


Colors of an Amaryllis

by talesofadragon



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2018-11-22 00:25:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 46,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11368743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesofadragon/pseuds/talesofadragon
Summary: Not remembering your human life is tragic. Being told that you are useless, hurts. Being told that you were always useless, hurts even more. You start to wilt. Your colors start to fade. You feel as though you're just going through the motions of the after life. But there is always at least one person who tells you, you are worth something. That one person takes care of you until your colors are bright again.*This is a mix of the manga and anime.** Changed title. Used to be "Useless".





	1. Chapter 1

Her eyes showed nothing but sadness for the longest time. She didn’t even know the last time she had felt anything but. She didn’t know if she could actually feel anything but sadness anymore. She had tried, oh had she tried to find happiness. Even a speck of it, but to her expectation, she had failed. It wasn’t meant to be.

She learned how to force a smile. It almost looked natural by this point. Only the smartest of creatures could see past her fake smile. And by the smartest of creatures, meaning otherworldly creatures. There was nothing they could do essentially for her. They had tried at first. Oh, how they tried hard. But it wasn’t meant to be.

However sad she was; however sad she felt in the moment, she was numb to it all. She did not cry. No. She hadn’t cried in years. Decades even. She didn’t know what the sensation felt like anymore. She didn’t know how to cry. She had thought, that maybe, if she could have cried, all of that sadness in her eyes would have gone away, and she would be able to feel a wide range of emotions again. But she had failed to cry. It wasn’t meant to be.

She had been born. She had been tortured. Then she died. She found herself in heaven, but then she fell. All her lives had been hell. Worse than hell. Being numb to grief took its toll. She wasn’t meant to be happy. She had accepted it. That’s what made her so good at her current job. Being numb had its positives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Grell!” The snarl resonated throughout the alleyway. “I turn my back on you for one second and you get me in trouble! You are so _aggravating_! You-”

Will pushed up his glasses with his scythe and interrupted the other with a cough. “That’s enough, Lailah. I don’t think she could hear you anyway given her current condition.”

This was true. Grell laid on the floor in a heap, looking as though she had been smashed into a brick wall and dragged across it. Lailah sighed, shaking her head at the scene. Peering around Will, she frowned. A demon and his human. Perfect. And another killing done by none other than Grell? This was more than perfect.

“Lailah,” Will had interrupted her thoughts. She turned her attention back to the other and nodded. “I have another mission for you.”

“Oh?” A mission. She was given the mission to look after Grell. Grell had been on… not so good terms with the higher ups so, she was forced to join Lailah during events, but that obviously didn’t go as planned. Lailah was sure that Will would have demoted her along with Grell, but obviously not.

“This one should be easier,” He pointed to the demon over yonder and the boy. “I want you to keep tabs on this demon.”

“What?!” Her voice boomed, making another echo throughout the alleyway.

“You heard me. Keep tabs on this demon. If a demon is here in London, we have to make sure that it doesn’t make a ruckus of things and go on a killing spree.”

“You know I don’t laugh at jokes,” Lailah sneered, leaning a bit to her right to look over the demon once more.

“This isn’t a joke.” Will’s gaze pierced through her. He picked up Grell by her hair and started to drag her away. “Your mission begins now. Have fun and… try to stick to the to-die list. I trust you can do this.”

“Will-“ But he was gone. She huffed, blowing a few stray hairs from her face, and spun around to meet the gaze of the demon merely 5 inches away from her face. “Pity. You don’t scare me, demon.”

“It would seem as though we have a new Phantomhive maid, my lord.” The demon jeered.

“It would seem so.” The human agreed.

“Oh brother,” Lailah rolled her eyes, fixing her glasses. “Well, if this is my mission, so be it. Just don’t give me a reason to kill you and all shall be fine.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This will be your room.” The demon, Sebastian opened the door to her quarters. Just as she thought. A servant’s quarters. Well, she was to be a maid after all. Couldn’t have everyone knowing that a grim reaper was staying with Ciel Phantomhive. “Breakfast is served at eight o’clock sharp except on Sunday’s when it is served at nine. You better be up by seven to help me prepare.”

“I never thought that I would be taken orders from a demon.” Lailah said, walking into her new place of rest.

“The Earl’s betrothed is coming by tomorrow night as well for dinner. I won’t be here until dinner is served so, you best be prepared.” Sebastian smiled, a smile that was so fake, so demonic, that it almost sent shivers down her spine. Almost. Sebastian closed the door and when she couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore, she let out a heavy sigh and sat on the bed.

“I’m not tired.” She admitted to herself although, it had been one hell of a day. She undid the clasp that kept her cape together, and threw it on the only chair in the room. She pulled off her boots, unbuttoned her pants and flung them off on to the chair, and unbuttoned her coat; that she threw on the chair as well. Her gloves she placed on the night stand next to the bed. Running through the only dresser in the room, she found some nightgowns and tossed one over her.

Lailah never actually cooked a day in her afterlife. There was no need to. She was provided sustenance as a reaper. The compensation had to be good for a reaper after all. Although, she thought she remembered having to cook at least a little bit in her human life, even if that was more than 200 years ago.

There was a knock on her door and it immediately opened after. “Oh-“

“Couldn’t wait for me to say come in now, could we?” Lailah glared at Sebastian. “What would have happened if I was undressing? Or, were you hoping-“

“I forgot to tell you, now that the Earl has another worldly creature in his hands, you’ll be joining us on dangerous assignments when asked for by the Queen.” Sebastian cut her off and with a sneer, he bid her goodnight and closed the door.

“Tch. Demons.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to get used to AO3. It's pretty different from other sites I've used. What I think is a long chapter is not long at all. I'll be trying to address this issue for you guys.

“Alright. You can go eat breakfast with the rest of the servants. Introduce yourself, make friends, and _don’t_ mention that you’re not exactly human.” Sebastian said to Lailah, making his leave for the Earl’s study.

“Right.” Lailah scratched the back of her head and went into the servant’s area to eat.

“Oh! Oh! You’re the new maid we heard about from Sebastian, yes?” A maid and a couple of fellows were sitting at the table, chomping away at their breakfast. Lailah forced her smile and nodded, grabbing a plate of whatever was being served for herself.

“That I am. My name is Lailah and I am honored to serve the Earl of the Phantomhive’s.” Lailah searched for an opening at the table. The other maid excitedly scooted away from a man and patted the bench in between them. Lailah gave a thankful nod and etched herself into the seat.

“Hello~,” The man next to her greeted with a smirk. “My name is Bardroy-“

“Buuuut everyone calls him Bard.” The youngest man interrupted.

Bardroy sneered at him and turned back to Lailah as she ate what seemed to be scrambled eggs. “If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask me.”

Lailah nodded with yet another forced, small smile. “Of course.”

“My name is Mey-rin! We’ll get along just fine, yes!” The maid next to Lailah pipped up, pushing her glasses up her nose.

“I’m Finny! I’m the gardener!” The young one waved and pointed to a quiet man with a tea cup in his hand. “And that’s Tanaka! He doesn’t say much.”

Lailah, continuing her forced smile, nodded at all of them. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” Bardroy poured a cup of tea and handed it to her. “Thank you… Sebastian has informed me that I will be preparing dinner tonight-“

“Ay! Ay! Why can’t he let _me_ do it!?” Bardroy suddenly boomed. “I’m the chef of this place!”

“Well then, I’ll expect your help.” Lailah closed her eyes, sipping the tea. “Tonight, Sebastian has ordered me to cook roast duck with garlic mashed potatoes and haricot verts. Do you think you’ll be able to help me with that?”

“Of course!” Bardroy beamed and gave a big smile. “We can get to work right after the young master and Sebastian leave, which shouldn’t be long.’

“By the way-“ Lailah took another sip of tea. “Where are they going?”

They all looked down at their plates and gave a heavy sigh. Oh? They were just peachy a moment ago. Bardroy was the one to speak up. “The Earl’s Aunt was murdered last night. They’re going to her funeral.”

Ah. So that’s who Grell had killed last night. What a shame. But, what’s done is done. Still, Lailah faked empathy pretty well and frowned at her plate. “I am terribly sorry to hear about such a passing.”

“Y-yeah… It’ll be pretty lonely from here on out… But at least we have each other!” Finny hugged himself as if he was gathering them all in a group hug.

“Ay.” Bardroy nodded and stood up with a new grin. “Now! How about we get to work on that roast duck? I’m pretty sure Sebastian and the young master have left!”

“Yes.” Lailah finished her tea and stood up with him. “Let’s get to work.”

Bardroy led the reaper back into the kitchen and told her to wait as he got out the necessary ingredients for dinner that night. Duck, haricot verts, potatoes, garlic, a few herbs, seasoning, bowls, pans, and other instruments that they would need. Lailah washed her hands and started with the duck as it needed to go into the oven as soon as possible… so she thought. She knew how everything should taste given that reapers had the taste buds of a human, but again, she didn’t necessarily know how to cook.

“Bardroy… what seasonings should I put on the duck?” She asked, looking around at the items on the table. “I’ve never cooked one before.”

“Uh,” Bardroy stared at the items as well, eventually placing the seasonings to use in front of her.

She nodded a thank you and went to work massaging the duck with the seasonings. The outside was easy while she got seasoning everywhere trying to get the inside massaged. Bardroy tried helping, but he just got in the way. Finishing eventually, she put the duck in the pan and with a towel, wiped some sweat off her forehead.

“That was… more difficult than I thought it was going to be.” Lailah mumbled.

She noticed Bardroy was not in the kitchen with her. When did he leave? She didn’t know exactly how to work the oven so he would be needed. The duck had to go in _now_. A loud banging made her jump. There was some more banging and crashes, then Bardroy re-entered the kitchen with a flamethrower.

“Now it’s time to roast the duck!”

“Uh… I don’t think you use a flamethrower for roasting.” She had been in many kitchens before and not once was there a flamethrower present. “I think we should just put the duck in the oven.”

“But, it’ll cook quicker.” Bard whined.

“It has plenty of time to cook. Dinner isn’t until six.” With a glare that said ‘put it back’, she crossed her arms, tapped her foot, and waited for Bardroy to simply turn on the oven for her.

He gave in, turned on the stove and went to put the flamethrower back. With a finger she tapped her chin and pondered for a moment. _‘He doesn’t seem to be a chef,’_ She thought. But he said he was, right? A chef would know not to use a flamethrower to cook.

Once Bard entered the kitchen without his flamethrower, she immediately started asking questions. “Where did you get that flamethrower?”

“Oh uh… Th-the duck needs to go in now, right?” He stuttered and avoided the question, quickly putting the duck in the oven. However, she was not about to give up.

“Bard… you’re not really a chef, are you?”

The so called chef sighed, feeling defeated. “No. I’m not. Mey-rin isn’t really a maid and Finny isn’t really a gardener either. We were all hired by the young master to protect the mansion. We are soldiers.”

“I see.” Ciel had hired soldiers as servants. To protect the manor? Or to protect Ciel himself? He had Sebastian to protect him, so they _had_ to be protecting the manor. From what? Didn’t matter that much to her though. She was just here to keep tabs on the demon. That was it.

Bard turned around and started to prepare the potatoes for boiling. A thought popped into his head. ‘ _I wonder what kind of soldier she is?’_

                                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why did he want her to watch over a demon and his soon to be eaten soul? It didn’t make sense in her mind. Once demons spied their prey, there was no stopping them. Did Will really think that she was going to get in the way of a demon and his meal? She would be killed in an instant. She was strong. She was powerful, but when it came to a demon who was so focused on eating, it would take at least a few more reapers to put him down.

“Alright!” Bardroy’s voice entered the reaper’s thoughts and snapped her from them. “Everything is ready, and I think the Earl and his Lady have arrived!” He took her by the wrist and dragged her out into the main hallway. Finny, Mey-rin and Tanaka were already there. Yes. _Servants_ always had to greet their masters.

“Welcome home!” They all said with a bow.

“Dinner is ready whenever you are-“ Lailah stopped short as a young lady, assumed to be Elizabeth, popped into her field of view.

“I didn’t know you had a new maid, Ciel.” The young lady’s eyes seemed to shimmer with excitement matching her smile. “She’s so pretty! I’d love to make her cute one day!”

“Oh, uh, thank you,” Lailah had no idea what to say. She glanced to Sebastian for a line, and he just grinned and shook his head.

“Lizzie. Come.” Ciel nodded towards the dining room doors.

Lady Elizabeth clapped her hands and dashed to the dining room; grabbing the young master on her way. Lailah sighed, scratching the back of her head with furrowed brows. She watched as Sebastian passed by with the dinner cart; ready to serve the two young ones. He pushed open the door, glanced at Lailah and beckoned her to join. She obeyed.

Lady Elizabeth swooned as Lailah set her dinner plate down on the table. “How long have you been a maid?”

“Lizzie, that’s not a very polite thing to ask.” Ciel mentioned, glancing at Sebastian and then to Lailah.

“It’s quite alright.” Lailah nodded and threw a smile to the young lady. “Not very long I’m afraid. I’m ever so thankful that the Earl of the Phantomhive’s would be so willing to take such a new maid into his services.”

“Not very long?” Elizabeth frowned. “But, you do everything so well!”

“She hasn’t done very much though….” Sebastian hissed, just loud enough for Lailah to hear.

“I’m honored, my lady.” Lailah bowed and glanced over to Sebastian who threw his head slightly at the kitchen door. _‘I have a soul to collect tonight anyway,’_ she thought, making her leave.


	3. Chapter 3

“My Lord,” Lailah followed Sebastian into the young master’s study. Sebastian was carrying a silver, gleaming tray with a white envelope on it. Lailah cocked her head and pushed up her glasses, wondering who it was from.

Ciel snatched the envelope off the tray, carefully breaking the seal with a knife and took out a sheet of paper. Lailah couldn’t read his face at all. Ciel was not showing any type of emotion what so ever. How unusual. Ciel sipped at his tea, and place both the letter and cup down at the same time.

“There have been a number murders lately due to a certain type of drug.” Ciel said, getting off his chair and walking around the desk to stand in front of the two otherworldly creatures. “I would like to talk to Lau on this… However, we don’t know what type of drug we are dealing with. I’m sure there’s always deaths among the underworld due to drugs so, he would need specifics. I would like to make sure that we are dealing with the correct people.”

“Should we go see Undertaker, my lord?” Sebastian asked. “I’m sure the bodies would have ended up there, and maybe they had the drugs on them at the time of death, or even have reminents of the drug still in their system.”

Undertaker? Lailah cocked her head to the other side out of curiosity. She knew what an Undertaker did for humans, but to find that the Earl was acquaintances with one seemed a little odd. Humans were fascinating creatures. Especially the nobles.

“Come Sebastian. Lailah, you too.” Ciel walked from his desk to the door. “I’m sure you would be very nice to have during a murder case-” He stopped, turned with a glint in his eye. “Grim Reaper.”

Lailah rolled her eyes with a slight sigh. “Very well, my lord.”

“Since you do not know the way, I’ll be driving the carriage. You will be sitting up front with me though.” Sebastian ordered as they followed the young lord through the long halls to the main doors of the manor. “A Phantomhive maid who doesn’t know their way around the streets of London isn’t worth her salt.”

“Alright.” She mumbled, giving a little sneer. A demon telling her what to do… pathetic, but she had to play the part as best as she could. She had orders to keep tabs on the demon and his child. If any humans found out about her not being from this world, who knows what the higher ups would do to her? She could only imagine that it would cause them to sentence her to her permanent death.  

Sebastian helped the young master into the carriage and hopped to the front. Lailah followed suit soon after. London was so beautiful this time of year. She didn’t get to enjoy the sights usually. She only came to the human realm when needed to collect a soul and that was it or when Will told her to go on short missions. A small smirk appeared on her lips. Will and his missions; utterly horrible, boring missions. They needed to get done, but they were always undesirable. Unless, of course, it was about a lost soul. Then it got fun.

Everyone seemed to be out and about on the London streets. Sebastian had been commenting on humans who they passed by every so often. “Lack of fashion sense,” “lack of hygiene,” “shouldn’t be on the streets,” so on and so forth. Always the judgmental one. Before she knew it though, they were getting farther into the slums of London; the underworld. Sebastian stopped the carriage in front of an alleyway and got down. Lailah followed and opened the carriage door for the young master.

“Undertaker is a very… _odd_ man to put it in simple terms.” Ciel said, making his way into the surprisingly bright alley. “Please let Sebastian and I deal with him so that this gets done as quickly as possible, Lailah.”

“Very well.” Lailah nodded. It wasn’t long before they were outside the funeral parlor. Coffins and tombstones lined the shop’s storefront. A big sign on top of the doorway “Undertaker” with a skull. Lovely. Sebastian opened the door for Ciel and Lailah, and closed it behind him, making the little bell above the door ring. Dusty coffins also lined the walls of the store. Between coffins, she could see abandoned cobwebs of all shapes and sizes. Behind a coffin desk, a silver haired man, Undertaker she guessed, dressed in all black with a weird top hat grinned at them. His bangs were covering almost half his face, but she could see the scar that ran across it. A scar around his neck too. _‘Poor thing.’_

“Heehee, what a pleasant surprise, my lord. What can I do for you today?” The man spoke with a high-pitched, sing-song type voice.

“We need information regarding some murders pertaining to a certain drug.” Ciel responded.

Lailah didn’t like how she couldn’t see the Undertaker’s eyes. She couldn’t even get a glimpse of them. Why did he cover them so? The eyes tell everything about someone. What they’re motives are. What they’re looking for. Everything. She shifted uncomfortably. Lailah’s eyes then wandered around the store, looking at the wondrous coffins that the man had. They looked quite comfortable.

“What do we have here?” Lailah’s eyes were pulled back to the Undertaker… literally. He had gently grabbed at her chin and made it so that she was facing him. Even this close, she still couldn’t see his eyes.

“This is my new maid.” Ciel replied.

“And what is your name, dear?” The Undertaker’s voice wasn’t very sing-songy anymore. It had more of a seductive tone to it.

“My name is Lailah, sir.” She would have bowed, but his hold on her chin, though gentle, was strong.

“No need for formalities, heehee.” His face got closer to hers. His breath hot on her face. She frowned slightly. Her eyes glancing to Sebastian who was staring with a blank face. “Such sadness in those eyes of yours, dearie. Why are you so sad?”

Lailah cocked an eyebrow and moved his hand away from her chin. “I’m not sad in the slightest.”

Undertaker tapped a finger nail on his chin. That cheeky smile growing wider with each second that he was in thought. “I’ve decided.” The nail that had been tapping his chin pointed at Lailah. “This one will give me prime laughter.”

“Undertaker-“

“I _don’t_ laugh and I _don’t_ tell jokes.” Lailah snapped at the man. “If you want those, go to someone else.”

“Hehehe, but I only want it from you, love.”

“Lailah.” Ciel growled at the annoyed reaper. “ _Please_ wait outside until we are done.”

“Very well, my lord.” She bowed her head to Undertaker and took her leave to the carriage.

“My my, what an interesting one she is, my lord. Hehehe.” She could hear the Undertaker make his last remark before closing the door.

She didn’t wait so long before Ciel and Sebastian made their way back to the carriage themselves. Once situated, they were off in a different direction. Sebastian, once again, commenting on the humans that passed by. His comments were true ones, but she sneered at each one of them anyway. Demons had no right to judge _anyone_.

They stopped in a part of London that she didn’t really recognize. The smell of the streets was wretched and disgusting. Streets covered with dirt, garbage, and other things that she didn’t allow herself to study for more than necessary. She covered her nose with a hand, trying to breathe in her perfume, but it just mixed in with the smell of the streets.

“We are in drug territory. That’s some of what you are smelling.” Sebastian told her. Stopping the carriage in front of an old building, he stepped down and helped Ciel out.

“Lailah, wait here.” Ciel ordered, and both butler and master went into the dreary, old building.

“This is fantastic.” Lailah mumbled, sitting back and crossing her arms in frustration.

“How is it going, Lailah?”

Her eyes darted to her left and there sat William. She snuffed, rubbing the back of her head. “Nothing to report if that’s what you’re going for.”

“I see you’ve been trying to keep up with the to-die list as well as keep an eye on this demon.” William flipped through the pages of his clipboard. What was he doing here anyway? Just to check up on her?

“Yes, well. I am a Grim Reaper after all. It’s my job.” She replied.

“Keep up the good work.” And just as quickly as he came, William left her side to go back to the reaper realm.

“Was that all you really wanted from me, William T. Spears?” Lailah sighed and turned back to the entrance of the building. What could they be doing in there? The young master certainly has strange connections.

They both eventually came out and got situated on the carriage. Lailah stared Sebastian down. Her eyes practically begging for details. Sebastian noticed, turned and smiled. “There is no need for you to know the details of the matter at hand. Your only mission is to keep tabs on me, is it not?”

Lailah rolled her eyes with a sneer. “You’re not wrong, demon.”

“Then you will be accompanying us on these tasks, but the details are none of your concern.” His eyes sparkled with pride. He clicked his tongue, sending the horses off to the manor.


	4. Chapter 4

“Lailah!” Ciel yelled for the reaper maid from his study. He wouldn’t have been yelling if he hadn’t known her strict, daily routine that Sebastian had set for her. After breakfast, she had to clean the kitchen until it was sparkling. After that, she had to clean all the guest bedrooms, then she had to tend to the Earl’s room. That was her strict routine and if Sebastian had to change it up one day, she was sure that the Earl would learn about it right away.

“You called for me?” Upon entering the Earl’s study, from his desk, he showed her a list. Inspecting it from where she stood, it was quite the long list.

“Do you remember how to get to the Undertaker’s from a few days ago?” He asked, handing over the list.

“Y-yes. I do.” Further examination revealed that the list contained mostly chemicals; most of which she couldn’t even pronounce. _‘Why in the world does he need stuff like this?’_

“Good. Take this to him and see that he fills the order. Do whatever you have to do to pay him.” Ciel nodded and then went back to reading the newspaper.

“Very well.” Lailah sighed, stuffed the list into her already cramped apron pocket and set off on horseback to the Undertaker’s. People didn’t see women riding on horseback through the streets of London every day, but a carriage would have been a hassle. What was the point if she had to drive it anyway? Besides, she could always attach a sack to the saddle and have the horse carry the supplies for her.

Lailah took a few wrong turns, had to ask for directions twice, but eventually found herself near the alleyway that they were at a few days before. The alleyway was murky and deserted now that it had been raining off and on again for the past few hours. She stood there staring down into the mist for a few moments in wonder. Why did she have to do this errand? Ciel and the butler saw how he reacted to her last time. It wasn’t going to be any different from before.

_‘Might as well get this over with.’_

As Lailah walked into the funeral parlor, the Undertaker’s giggling immediately filling her ears. “My, my. Back again? And this time, all by yourself, heehee.” The man peeked out from behind the coffin desk. “Lailah is your name, correct?”

“The young Earl has a list that he would like filled.” Ignoring his words, she took out the list that was stuffed in her apron pocket and showed it to Undertaker.

The Undertaker stood straight and walked in front of his desk, over towards Lailah. He didn’t take hold of her chin this time, but again, his face was too close for comfort. Especially with that grin. He tapped her nose with a chuckle. “I won’t ask for prime laughter.”

She let out a breath of relief, but he continued.

“I would like answers instead.”

“…Answers?” She cocked her head to the side.

Undertaker took a step closer. It seemed he was examining her eyes with the ones under his bangs. “Why are you so sad?”

She scoffed at his words. “I do not have time for your games.”

“I need payment in some way, dearie.” Undertaker chuckled and asked again. “Why are you so sad?”

Lailah frowned and looked away from him with a groan. “I’m sorry. I do not have an answer to that question.”

“No?” Undertaker pecked at her jawline with his nail. “Then, another. How did you come to be a Grim Reaper, my little fallen angel?”

She backed up quickly, knocking into one of his coffins and almost falling on to her back. “W-what?!”

“Hehe, are you trying to purify humans by using the Grim Reaper’s powers?” He didn’t seem aggressive, but her heart pounded as if he were. “I’m not a judgmental man, my dear, but if that is the case than I’ll have to terminate you.”

“I… H-how did you know I was a Grim Reaper? How did you know I was a fallen angel?” Not answers to his questions. No, they weren’t, but he grinned and out from under one side of his bangs, she could see the charteuse phosphorescent double iris eyes all Grim Reapers had. Those eyes, especially on him… he was beautiful.

“You have the eyes of a Grim Reaper, my dear. However, you don’t smell like one should.” He tapped his chin with a finger nail and then poked her cheek with it. “How did you become a Grim Reaper? Why?”

Lailah smirked, dusting off her apron. “That’s a little personal, is it not?”

“Hehe, right you are, dearie, but again, if you don’t tell me, I will assume that you’re trying to cleanse humans by means of using the reaper’s powers. That I cannot allow.”

Lailah gave a sneer. She didn’t want to answer, but she didn’t want to die either. “I didn’t want to purify humans after falling. I fell under uncommon circumstances.” She began, leaning back against the coffin that she had knocked into. “After a few years, William T. Spears found me. I begged him to take me in, or at least to the reaper realm. Begged. Pleaded. I did everything that he asked of me. I didn’t want to be alone anymore. At some point, I remember William telling me that I had the eyes of a Shinigami and that I probably had potential to be one… So, I pleaded with the higher ups to give me the training and if I wasn’t able to handle being a Shinigami, I would leave.”

“My, and the higher ups gave in to your plead? I’m quite surprised.” His nail went under her chin, bringing her face back up to meet his gaze… which was again, covered by bangs. “However, you still have the essentials of an angel… correct? I’m also quite surprised you were able to become a  Grim Reaper at all given that you were once an angel meaning that in your human life, you didn’t commit suicide.”

She shifted her gaze down and to the left. A ripping of fabric was heard and then enormous, white wings came from her back. “The council said the same thing, but I had the eyes; I had the potential. I’m certain that I… I committed suicide in my human life. I don’t even have the powers an angel has. Only the wings and I can set _some_ things aflame.” She bit her lip, looking up at Undertaker’s face, and pulling her wings back in. “All I needed was training to be a Grim Reaper… I can assure you I have no intentions on purifying humans… I just want to belong somewhere.”

Undertaker reached up, fixing her glasses with a nail and clanked his boots back over his desk. He would definitely need to look more into this. “You have more than paid for the supplies, heehee.”

She handed over the list and as he got the supplies ready, a question nagged at her. “You’re retired, yes?”

“Heehee, you are correct, my fallen angel.” His boots clanked on the floorboards as he walked from one end of the shop to the other. “Go ahead. Ask your other question.”

“Oh, um… Why did you retire?” She bit her tongue. “If that’s not too personal.”

“Of course not, dearie.” He clanked back to the other side of the desk and handed her a box with all the supplies listed. “I simply got bored of the daily life of a Grim Reaper.”

That was it? She gave him practically her whole life story and he retired from being a reaper because he was _bored_? She was slightly disappointed, but nonetheless, she thanked the Undertaker and started her leave; supplies in hands.

“Do come back dearie. You are _always_ welcomed here.” Hearing him say that made her feel a weird sensation… Was her heart fluttering? No. It couldn’t.  She nodded and left for the manor.

Upon arrival, she went straight to the Earl’s study. She heard a muffled “come in” and opened the door. The Earl was sitting at his desk, just the way she had left him. He was enjoying his afternoon tea and reading the paper yet again.

“Good. You got the supplies.” Ciel beckoned her over to his desk. She obeyed, placing the goods in front of him. “Did Undertaker give you any trouble?”

She shook her head. “Not at all, my Lord.”

Ciel’s eyes narrowed in disbelief, but didn’t pursue. “Very well.”

“…If I may, my Lord… I’d like to head to bed for the rest of the day.”

“Hm? Are you feeling ill? Do grim reapers even get sick?” Ciel asked.

“Yes, we do… It’s just been a long day.” Lailah bowed her head, not wanting to meet the Earl’s gaze. She didn’t want him to know that she was telling little white lies.

Ciel tapped his fingers lightly on the desk and then nodded. “Very well. You may leave.”

“Thank you, my Lord.”


	5. Chapter 5

“WAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” The cry of the young Finnian could be heard from all over the manor. Lailah, along with a faster Sebastian, took off running in the direction of the cry. What could have been wrong? Was he hurt that badly? Lailah had gotten to the scene a few seconds after Sebastian. Finny had somewhat calmed down enough to speak about what had been wrong.

“I-I tried trimming th-the trees and broke the trimmers! S-so, I thought i-it would be okay for m-me to just trim them with my bare hands!” Finny showed them his hands which were filled with marks and probably splinters as well. “B-but when I was done, all the trees were… were….”

Lailah frowned and Sebastian shook his head at the sight of all the trees of the garden. All of their branches had been broken. She was certain that one should only trim the twigs and branches that were already dead. But Finny’s explanation didn’t end there.

“And and I-I tried to cut the lawn like you told me to! B-but I ended up losing control and running over the flower beds!” Oh, those poor flowers. Only some patches had survived the evil clippings of the lawn mower. Finny sniffed and started to blubber again.

“Lailah, put out your hand.” Sebastian ordered, rummaging through his pockets. He pulled out a sack and dropped it in her hands. “Go with Finny to the gardening store. Make sure he doesn’t buy anything that will make the garden look like a robot this time.”

“… A what?” She blinked, hand curling around the sack of coins.

“And make sure he doesn’t get into trouble in town,” Sebastian continued.

“Shouldn’t someone else do this?” A slight look of disgust on her face.

“A Phantomhive maid who can’t do this much, isn’t worth her salt.” Sebastian smiled that devilish smile that wasn’t a genuine smile at all.

“Come on, Lailah! We’ll have fun! You can help me pick out flowers!” Finny tugged slightly on her uniform sleeve. “I won’t be a bother! Promise!”

“I’ll have your usual carriage escort you, Finny.” Sebastian bowed and left quickly.

Lailah sighed and pocketed the sack of coins. “Very well.” She had nothing better to do anyway. Finny beamed and dragged her to the carriage that had a big, rolling wagon attached to the back of it.

“Uhm… Mr. Sebastian doesn’t like it when I drive the carriage and my usual driver doesn’t seem to be here.” Finny frowned and started to sniff again.

Lailah shook her head quickly and waved her hands at the boy. “No more crying, Finny. I can drive the carriage. You just have to give me directions.”

“I can certainly do that!” Finny stood at attention and then proceeded to settle into the carriage.

The reaper sighed once more and placed herself in the front of the carriage. She picked up the reins and urged the horses onward. Finny’s directions were not so great, but they got to the garden center eventually. Before the carriage could even come to a halt, Finny jumped out and ran into the garden center. Lailah sighed, shook her head and settled the carriage into a space off the road.

“Miss. Lailah! Miss. Lailah! Look! Aren’t all these baby trees so cute?” Finny beamed at the reaper who was just getting into the center.

“How can trees be cute?” She mumbled, looking around the shop. “Remember Finny, don’t get anything that would make the garden look like… uh… a robot, I believe Sebastian said.” Finny nodded and took off again with blazing speed.

“My, my. What do we have here?”

Lailah immediately frowned at the sing-song voice behind her. “Hello, Undertaker.”

His hand met Lailah’s shoulder and tugged lightly; begging for her to turn around. “Doing some gardening for the young master, are we? Heehee.”

She gave in to the begging and turned around to meet his half-covered face once again, but this time, she seemed to be looking up more than the other times. Was he slouching last time, or was he normally this tall? “I’m helping the gardener pick out new flowers and trees today. Sebastian’s orders… unfortunately.”

“Heehee. Seems as though the butler has you on a leash, my little birdie.” She scrunched her nose at his words. She was just doing her job. That wasn’t being on a leash!

“Oh! Good day Mr. Undertaker!” They both turned and saw Finny running up to them, hands a dirty mess with a single flower pot in hand. “How are you today? Here to pick up some flowers for a funeral?”

“Heehee, I’m doing just fine today.” Undertaker’s smile, usually creepy, turned sweet and warm. “As a matter of fact, I am. A few funerals actually. The families had paid for big orders as well. I don’t mind. Gets me out of the shop for a while.”

_‘Gets him out of the shop? I thought he loved his shop,_ ’ Lailah’s eyes narrowed in thought. It didn’t look like he had picked out any flowers yet either. Had he just gotten here? She shook her head quickly. _‘Why am I trying to analyze him? He probably did enjoy getting out of his parlor every once in a while. It was normal to want to be outside from time to time.’_

“Miss. Lailah?”

Finny’s high-pitched voice had split her thoughts apart and had made its way to her attention. “Hm? Sorry, I was lost in thought.”

“Oh! I was just hoping you would pick out some flowers that you’d like to see in the garden!” Finny’s smile that had vanished while he was trying to get her attention, had come back to full bloom. He tugged at her sleeve, a bit harder than she had expected.

A slight smirk formed on her lips, but then quickly vanished. Although, Undertaker had noticed and kept note. Lailah nodded and let Finny drag her to the already in bloom flower section of the shop; Undertaker following behind.

“Are you interested in what we pick out, Undertaker?” Lailah flashed a grin at the man.

He flashed her a glimpse of his eye and a grin to match. “Heehee, well I have flowers to pick out as well.” Oh, yes. That’s the whole reason why he was here. She faced back to where she was headed, but with a slight frown. _‘Why am I upset that he’s not interested in the flowers that I pick?’_ she thought. This was silly. She had no time to feel these emotions. She had no reason to either.

“Look at all these pretty flowers!” Finny exclaimed, his hands leaving her sleeve and being thrown up at the ceiling. “They’re all so bright and colorful!”

Lailah looked around, searching for her favorite flower immediately; amaryllis. Making her way towards them, she could see that they were all different colors and all so healthy, but then there was one, all the way in the back of the group. It looked sad. The colors weren’t bright. The leaves and stems were all bent and the petals were slowly falling off.

“Amaryllis!” Finny’s voice intruded in her inspection of the seemingly dying plant. He picked up a few and put them in his wagon. “Nice choice!”

Lailah nodded, glancing back at Undertaker who had been watching the whole situation. Well, she assumed he was. “Yes… amaryllis are my favorite flower after all.”

She kept her eye on Undertaker for a bit as Finny started going on about his favorite flowers, trees, fruits, and vegetables. She wanted to learn more about this mysterious, retired reaper. Specifically, his human life… if he still remembered it. Did he have a wife and kids as a human? What job did he have? Where did he live in England? Was he originally _from_ England? Why… why did he commit suicide? How? She wanted to know.

Not that she had any business knowing, but curiosity always got the better of her.

“I think that’s it for the flowers.” Finny mumbled, looking at his wagon. Ever last inch was filled and where he could, piled flowers on top of each other.

“Oh! Finny! I’m surprised you’re back!” An older man, looking older than Undertaker even, with a smock made his way towards the young one. Even though he had said it, he didn’t look surprised at all that Finny was back. He probably knew that the young one wasn’t a very good gardener.

“I am! And I have help this time!” Finny nodded over to Lailah, who in turn, smiled at the shopkeeper.

“Oh! Is this your mother?”

Lailah’s smile quickly faded into a scowl and then into heavy frown. “Do I look _that_ old?” Did she? Well, she was over 200 years old. However, the last time she checked, she looked maybe in her late 20’s. Though, Undertaker thought the comment was hilarious.

“No, Mr. Upperhan! Miss. Lailah is the newest Phantomhive maid!” Finny corrected.

“O-oh! Oh dear! I’m so sorry! I-I just… assumed.” The shopkeeper’s face turned a dark red color and he immediately averted his gaze from Lailah’s. “… You sure picked out a lot of flowers, Finnian.”

“Well, I kind of screwed up the whole garden, but we don’t have any guests coming so, Mr. Sebastian wasn’t _too_ upset.” Finny took hold of the handle to his wagon and started for the trees. “I’m getting a few saplings as well! Lailah, can you pick out some flower seeds? The packets are right over there.” He pointed towards a display next to the only working fountain in the shop.

Lailah nodded, starting to head towards the display, but then stopped and looked to the sad amaryllis plant. “You should take better care of that amaryllis. It needs some love and affection.”

Mr. Upperhan looked to the plant and shrugged. “I’ve been giving it all the attention I can, but it just won’t do. It doesn’t have any diseases or bugs, so I keep it out on display hoping that someone will want it. No one ever does I’m afraid.”

Lailah turned back and stared at the display of seeds. She would take the plant if she could. If she hid it in the rest of the flowers, she was sure that Sebastian nor Ciel would notice. Ciel probably wouldn’t mind if he found it, but Sebastian… who knew what he would do? _‘Probably rip up the whole garden because of it’_. Her brows furrowed and she glanced back at Undertaker who was finally picking out some flowers. The usual ones for funerals were picked and then he stared at the rest. Probably hoping that one would catch his eye.

“Are you ready to pay and head back?”

“Oh! Uhm….” Lailah scooped up some packets and nodded at Finny. “Yes.”

“Hey, Mr. Upperhan! How much for all of this?”

Mr. Upperhan totaled everything and Lailah paid up. It was quite more than she was expecting, even though they did get a lot. Mr. Upperhan and even Undertaker helped pack everything up into the carriage and on to the rolling palate attached to the back of the carriage.

“It was nice meeting you, Miss. Lailah.” Mr. Upperhan, still averting her gaze, bowed his head and quickly went back into his shop.

“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again, my dear.” Undertaker chuckled, poking her nose with a nail, making her nose scrunch up.

“Hurry up, Miss. Lailah! Sebastian will be waiting for you to help with dinner!” Of course, Finny was right and she had no problem with leaving.

She couldn’t help but regret not buying that sad amaryllis though.


	6. Chapter 6

Hiding in the depths of the trees and bushes, Sebastian, Lailah and Ciel inspected their surroundings. The information that Sebastian and Ciel had gathered had led them to a abandoned manor on the very outskirts of London. The man that they were apparently after went by the name Justice Harring. He was trying to bring back an old, addictive drug to the market scene. However, he had made it much more addictive, much more effective, and much more dangerous. If his dealers weren’t making profits, Mr. Harring would shove the drug down their throat which would kill them in seconds. This drug wasn’t made to be taken orally.

Pretty typical of drug dealers. This case wasn’t anything new.

“I sense no humans on the outskirts of the building.” Sebastian said. “Shall we go in?”

“Yes.” Ciel replied, turning to both otherworldly creatures. “Lailah, you take back. Sebastian will be right behind me as we proceed further into the territory.”

“Of course.” Her death scythe formed from her hand and she took the back, carefully following the other two into the manor.

It was strange. There was no one in the entrance way of the manor. No one guarding the place. Sebastian had made sure to close the doors quietly before they proceeded. Spider webs dangled in at every inch of the entrance that was open to them. Walking through the entrance way, the dust kicked up at their feet producing a haze in the room.

“We’ll check the rooms one by one. It’s curious that he doesn’t have any guards, but I guess that is why he’s hiding in an abandoned manor.” Ciel said.

They pushed open the doors, one by one. No one but the resident spiders were there. Maybe a bird or two that had flown in through one of the broken windows that had made its nest there as well. Getting to the very last room of the second floor, they all piled in one by one and pondered for a moment.

“Maybe he’s out doing some business,” Lailah mused, running her hands over the dust covered books on the shelves.

“I doubt a drug lord would go out on business himself unless it was with someone high ranking. Lau said that the man didn’t know anyone of high importance.” Sebastian said, putting his hand to his chin.

“But, the lack of guards, and the lack of the man himself, suggest just that.” Lailah pushed back.

Sebastian’s eyes suddenly glowed, and Lailah was sure he would lash out at her right then and there, but his head ever so slightly nodded at the bookshelf near her. The shelves themselves were somewhat vibrating. Lailah stepped back, brought her scythe over her opposite shoulder, and then hurled the scythe into the bookshelf. There was a blood curdling scream, then the shelf was knocked away. A slender looking man emerged from the little nook behind the shelf and bolted out of the room.

“Sebastian! This is an order! Capture that man!” Ciel had ripped off his eyepatch to reveal Sebastian’s mark.

“Yes, my Lord.”  Sebastian bowed and dashed off after the man.

“Lailah, you go with him.”

“I-“

“That’s an order!” Ciel barked and Lailah quickly followed the sounds of Sebastian’s footsteps.

Lailah spread his wings as best she could, but the hallway was too narrow for her to actually take flight. Her wings went back in and hustled down the halls of the manor, but couldn’t make out Sebastian’s footsteps. That made her slow and eventually come to a complete stop. She inspected the floor for foot imprints, but the tracks were all over the place. She couldn’t really tell the fresh ones from the old ones.

The reaper turned and stared up at the top of the stairs, thinking that Ciel would have followed, or at least made his own way back to the entrance way of the manor. She waited a few moments, but the young Earl was still not present. Her stomach dropped. Had there been someone else in that room that they weren’t aware of? Just waiting to kidnap, or even kill Ciel? Darting up the stairs, she sprinted back to the end of the long hallway where she had left Ciel.

To find that he wasn’t there and the window had been smashed open.

“Shit.” She growled and surveyed the situation outside. It seemed to be the backyard that had a wildly overgrown labyrinth of some sort. He had definitely been brought there. Taking a few steps back, she readied herself and took a leap out the window. Her wings immediately spread, and she started her search for Ciel from up above.

Lailah growled lowly at the site of the young master just barely making it out of the way of a heavier looking man’s sword…. _‘A sword? Really?’_ She would think that drug lords and their gangs would have guns for protection. They were easier to use. However, she had no time to judge. She made an A-line down to where they stood in the middle of the labyrinth. She landed in between the two, spreading her wings just as the man brought down the sword again.

A shriek. Splattered blood and then another, more deep sound shriek came from the labyrinth.

“Sebastian! Come!” Ciel yelled and in the blink of an eye, Sebastian was at his side.

With a loud clanking sound, the man dropped his sword and stared at Lailah, then to the bloody wing that laid on the ground, then back at her. “You’re… you’re n-not human.” His eyes closed and started to shriek again with his fingers curling into his hair. “A demon! A demon!”

“Oh dear, I’m offended.” Lailah shifted her hand on the bloody stub of what was left of her wing. “The butler here is the demon.”

“A fallen angel isn’t that much farther from a demon.” Sebastian said with the sweetest tone he could manage.

“I’m a grim reaper, _not_ a fallen angel.” She snorted.

“Kill him, Sebastian!” Ciel broke the joking tension between the two.

“Yes, my lord.” With one swift action, Sebastian had gone behind the man and cracked his neck to the side; killing him instantly.

“Well, this is unfortunate.” Lailah mumbled, snapping her fingers over her severed wing and setting it ablaze.

“Are you okay?” Ciel asked, inspecting the blood that was oozing from her wound, seeping into the fabrics of her clothing.

“Sebastian, where is Justice Harring?” Lailah ignored Ciel’s question, taking out her scythe and immediately extracting the soul of the dead man that laid before the demon.

“I was not able to capture the man. He killed himself before I could catch him.”

_‘Oh dear.’_ A suicide. She would leave that soul to William or any of the others. There was protocol for such deaths that she had not been taught since she was not a full Shinigami, and because the higher ups didn’t fully trust her yet.

“Hey! Stop ignoring me!” Ciel yelled and jabbed a finger into Lailah’s good side.

“Oh! I’m sorry.” Lailah bared a painful smile.

“Are you going to die without your wing? You’re bleeding pretty badly.”

“N-no… I won’t die. The bleeding will stop momentarily and my wing will grow back… eventually.” Lailah frowned, staring back at her wing. She slowly put her other wing away as to not disturb the severed side. “However, I can’t put the severed wing away and the healing process is very painful and will take at the minimum, a month.”

“We cannot have you hiding out in the servant’s quarters for a month, or maybe more.” Sebastian said.

“Can’t you go back to the reaper realm?” The young master questioned.

“I-I could… but they would have no use for me there. They cannot send an injured Shinigami out on assignments, and besides… no one really likes having me there anyway.” The sad truth had come out, but now wasn’t the time for sympathy.

“That’s alright.” Ciel replied, shrugging off any dirt that had gotten on to his clothes and beckoning them both to follow him out. “I know where you can stay for the time being.”

“Oh?” She was surprised. Lailah was sure that they both would have left her here to heal by herself. “Where?”

                                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Undertaker…” Lailah mumbled as Sebastian knocked on the funeral parlor’s door. Did Ciel know that Undertaker was actually a Shinigami? Did Sebastian? No. Probably not. They treated him as if he was just a strange human. Better that way she supposed. She scratched at her cape covering her severed wing, looking up and down the alleyway for any humans that might seem suspicious of them. No one, not even the rats, made a peep.

The door unlocked and a sleepy Undertaker opened the door with a slight grin. He didn’t wear his outer coat, but he donned the hat. _‘The stupid hat….’_ She commented to herself. _‘Why did he wear such unnecessary things?’_ She bit her lip and looked down to the ground _. ‘I guess one could say that about my long cape.’_

“Heehee, it’s pretty late, young Earl.” Undertaker ushered all of them inside and closed the door behind him.

Lailah glanced around the parlor, seeing that everything was just as it was until she turned around to face Undertaker. At the front of the shop, right near the door, was the sad looking amaryllis plant. _‘He bought it… why?’_ She hadn’t expected him, of all people, to buy that plant.

“What can I do for the young Earl that can’t wait until morning?” Undertaker interlaced his fingers; his grin growing wider.

“We need a favor.” Sebastian uncovered Lailah’s wing which had barely been cleaned off so it was covered with dried blood.

For a second, Lailah swore she saw serious concern flash across Undertaker’s face. Then it relaxed. Undertaker made his way, just a few inches away from Lailah’s face. He examined her expression, glancing at the wing, and then back at her face. “Such pain in your eyes….”

“We need to keep her here while her wing heals. Can you do that for us?” Ciel asked, taking Undertaker’s attention away from Lailah.

“I can certainly look after this injured, little birdie, heehee.” Undertaker’s nails slide under Lailah’s chin, lifting it up just a bit, and then letting her face drop. “No payment necessary.”

Sebastian opened the door for the young Earl who gave a heavy sigh. “Thank you, Undertaker.”

“Behave yourself-“

“I _do not_ need to be reminded of such things from a demon.” Lailah snapped at Sebastian who shrugged and let the door close behind him.

Undertaker locked the door and beckoned Lailah over to the stairway. “I like sleeping in coffins. You can have my bed during your stay here.”

Lailah nodded, quickly looking back at the plant as she made her way up the stairs behind Undertaker. Upon making their way to the top, there was a single door that when opened, was a bedroom, bigger than her servant quarters, with a bathroom in the way back corner. The walls were covered with thick, black curtains. The bed was made with dark, purple sheets. Two side tables were on each side of the bed and there was his dresser in the front, left corner.

“It’s quite the comfortable bed.” Undertaker mused, making his way back towards the door. “Get some sleep. I will clean your wing in the morning.” Before closing the door behind him, Undertaker made sure to say one more thing. “I look forward to getting to know you better, my little birdie.”

Lailah nodded. “I also look forward to it."


	7. Chapter 7

Lailah’s eyes snapped open. Her body quaked and she could feel herself in a cold sweat. Another nightmare had come and gone. She was thankful that she hadn’t woken up screaming this time. That would have been terrible; to wake up the Undertaker in the middle of the night all because of a dumb dream. She turned to her good side and checked her pocket watch for the time; only 4 in the morning.

“I’m not going back to sleep,” She groaned, tossing her legs over the side of the bed to sit up. If she did go back to sleep, another nightmare was sure to occur and she didn’t have the mentality for that. “Might as well make myself… useful.”

Lailah made her way into the bathroom and closed the door. Hanging on the towel rack was a single, purple towel. Was this there for him, or could she use it as well? It was the only one there and she wasn’t about to wake him for another. While waiting for the bathtub to fill, Lailah undressed and put her hair up into a sloppy bun. She turned off the water and slipped into the bath, but she had no time to relax. She quickly bathed herself, got out, drained the tub and got dressed for the day. The outfit she usually wore as a reaper was comforting to her minus the cape.

4:45am.

Undertaker would still be asleep. It was probably best not to wake him. Lailah grabbed her boots and quietly descended the stairs. It was creaky, but she heard nothing coming from the coffins in the parlor besides a few, small snores. She took a peek down the one hallway in the parlor and could see a small kitchen at the end. Perfect.

There wasn’t a lot in the kitchen. Stove. Sink. a small table. An ice box. And some of his biscuits were still out. Lailah leaned against one of the counters and put her boots on, making sure to wipe the dirt off her feet first. The place was dusty and dirty to say the least except for the bathroom. Especially the floors. Filfthy.

5:05am.

There was a broom tucked away in the corner of the kitchen. She grabbed at it and a few of the hairs flew out of the end. Didn’t even have a functioning broom. This would have to do for now. She swept the kitchen floor, making sure to get into the little nooks of the room. It wasn’t much since the broom itself seemed to be dusty. She tried her best though to the point where she was picking up whatever she could with her hands.

5:34am.

Lailah put the broom away and went to the sink. There were some dirty beakers and ‘urns’ that always held the Undertaker’s biscuits. She started to hum as she turned on the sink to wash them. She suddenly felt a presence coming towards her from behind.

“You’re no maid of mine, dearie.”

“Did I wake you?” She asked. She was able to wash one beaker before his hand lightly tapped hers, telling her to stop.

“Not at all, love. I usually wake up at this time.” He was fully dressed though with his creepy smile to match. She was almost positive that she had woken him up at some point. She would have to be more careful since there was bound to be a next time.

She turned off the water and shook her hands into the sink. “I needed something to do since I wasn’t able to go back to sleep.”

Undertaker tapped her hand again and nodded towards the hallway. “Come, my little birdie. I’ll tend to your wing now.”

Lailah followed him to a back room that she hadn’t realized was behind the curtains of the main parlor. There were dozens upon dozens of little viles on shelves and of course, tools for the everyday mortician. He tapped his nails on the single wooden chair in the room and started to gather the things that he would need.

The wooden chair was rickety. She was surprised that it could hold her weight let alone the Undertaker’s. Undertaker set down a few viles on the table and ripped a piece of clean cloth from his stack of them. This place, like the bathroom, was miraculously clean. It may have even been cleaner then the bathroom.

“This will sting a little dearie. Forgive me.” The liquid on the rag was a light pink color. She was curious as to what it exactly was, but once the rag touched her wing, all curiosity went out the window. Lailah gasped and covered her mouth with a hand. A chuckle escaped the Undertaker’s throat. He turned the rag over and dabbed on a clear liquid. This one didn’t hurt as much and the last few liquids didn’t hurt at all.

“Now it won’t get infected, heehee.” He put the viles away and threw out the rag. “Do you want me to wrap it?”

Lailah shook her head. “It’ll just get in the way of the healing processes.

He then beckoned her to follow with a nail. “You must be hungry. Come. I have biscuits to share.”

Lailah cracked a small smirk and giggled, making Undertaker turn around with a look of surprise on his… half face that she could see. “The Earl has said that you liked your biscuits.”

A wide smile grew on his face at her statement. “Yes, yes. I hope you like them as well.”

She followed him back to the kitchen where he opened a cabinet above his head, took out one of his biscuit urns, and turned back to Lailah. _‘There were already some out…_ ’ She said to herself. _‘Honestly….’_ She hesitated, but eventually took off the top and took a biscuit. It smelled wonderful actually. A strong vanilla flavor perhaps? “Oh!” She gasped after taking a bite. “They are quite good!”

“Hello?” A voice and a couple of boots could be heard from the main parlor along with a ringing of the store bell.

Undertaker gave Lailah the biscuits. “I’ll be right back, darling.” And made his way to the main parlor.

She stared down the hallway and decided to follow, making sure to keep it so that the humans couldn’t even sense her. It was an ability of a Shinigami that took her quite a while to master. 

“Just put my new guest down right there and I’ll take care of him, heehee.” The Undertaker said.

The men put the coffin down in the middle of the parlor and tossed some coins in a little sack at Undertaker. “Thank you kindly.”

“Always a pleasure.” Undertaker said and threw the sack on the floor. That’s right. He didn’t like the Queen’s money all that much, but she assumed he still needed it to pay for everything. “What’s the man’s name?”

“Hm, I’m pretty sure his name was Harold Nix. One of the upper ranking gang’s leader here in London.” One man said and then proceeded to shrug. “Looks like we won’t be hearing of any violence from them for a while.”

“Come on. We have to get back.” Another said and with that, they left with a couple of nods thrown at the Undertaker as another ‘thank you’.

Lailah took a few steps into the parlor and stared at the coffin for a moment, putting the urn of biscuits on another coffin in the shop. “A reaper hasn’t visited this body.”

“Hm?” Undertaker looked at Lailah and then at the coffin. “Ah… I feel it… the soul.”

Lailah frowned and took out her copy of the to-die list. ‘Harold Nix’, she searched for the name, but no one by that name was there. “He must have used that name as a cover.” She hoped anyway. She slowly lifted the top of the coffin off, but hastily put it back on. He was decapitated. Better get it over with though. Again, she lifted the top off and stood up. Her death scythe came to her side.

“Do you mind?” She asked, glancing at the Undertaker and fixing her glasses.

“Be my guest.” Undertaker grinned, intertwining his fingers together. A lady at work was a marvelous thing and after all, there weren’t that many female reapers that actually did any field work. Her face became beat red at the knowing that he was staring at her. He probably couldn’t see her very well though, but that didn’t help.

Lailah brought her scythe up and pierced the man’s chest. His cinematic record appeared before her. Nothing worth reviewing for more than a moment. Besides, even if he was a man worth saving, his head was missing. Nothing she could have done about that. Her scythe finished the job quickly and vanished into thin air.

“Strange.” She murmured. Why hadn’t he been on the to-die list? His name _had_ been Harold Nix, according to his record.

“I wouldn’t worry about it, my little birdie.” Undertaker said, tapping his nails on the desk. “The higher ups mess up from time to time.”

“Yes.” She said, going to the Undertaker’s side to sit. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Oh?” Undertaker hummed. “Going to be spending the day with me in the shop?”

Lailah shrugged, looking through the ‘To-die’ list. “Might as well. You won’t let me clean, unless you mind.”

A hearty laugh erupted from Undertaker. “No, no. I do not mind, dearie. Just don’t let any humans see you with that wing.”

Lailah glanced at him and nodded. “Of course.”


	8. Chapter 8

Day after day, Lailah sat by Undertaker’s side in the funeral parlor, watching him check in guests and having someone to tell his jokes to. It was amusing how he much tried to get her to laugh and how hard he tried. Even after the many times of telling him that she hadn’t laughed in years and she didn’t know how, he had said that it was nonsense. That everyone knew how to laugh if something was funny enough. It was… admirable that he didn’t give up on her.

The morning had started out just like any other morning. She had woken up early in the morning, but instead of heading down to the kitchen after her bath and getting dressed, she stayed in the bedroom for a while. ‘Let that man rest,’ she thought. Whenever she had gotten up early and gone into the kitchen, ten minutes later, he would show up behind her with his nails grazing the sides of her neck to see what reaction he would get out of her. And every time, it sent shivers down her spine and made indecent thoughts run through her mind, but every time she managed to pull herself together after the initial shiver.

Lailah sat on the bed practically twiddling her thumbs and looking around the dark room. She yearned to know more about him; about Undertaker. It would be wrong for her to go through his things though… if he even had anything. It didn’t seem like he had much photos or even a journal unless he hid it somewhere. There was a knocking on the door that made her jump. She glanced at the time. 5:56am. Was he really up this early without her having woken him up?

“You can come in,” She assured him and he slowly opened the door, sticking his head in first with his signature creepy grin and then the rest of his body.

“My my, you’re up but you haven’t gone downstairs. I was wondering if you were okay.” Undertaker remained at the doorway with his fingers laced together. His top coat was removed along with his hat, beads, of course his boots and those funeral lockets that always hung around his hip.

“I thought I would let you sleep just a bit longer. I’m use to not sleeping well. I don’t need to thrust that upon you as well. You’re already housing me. It would certainly not be respectful of me to do that.” She glanced away for a moment then back to Undertaker who still hadn’t moved an inch. Lailah was sure he would have moved towards her by now. Why was he keeping his distance?

“Ah, but my dear, I quite like spending the early mornings with you.”

She suddenly stood up and made her way over to Undertaker, getting up close and personal like he would have done. His smile vanished. It didn’t come back as a frown, but as a look of surprise. Lailah, with curiosity gleaming in her eyes, brushed away one side of his bangs to reveal that stunning eye that had her head over heels. Undertaker caught her hand before she could reveal anymore and laced his fingers with hers. That grin was back on his mouth.

“I… I’m sorry.” Lailah blushed a light pink color, setting her gaze to the floor. “I found it odd that you weren’t invading my personal space-“

“So you invaded mine instead? Heehee.” Undertaker’s other hand brought her chin up then stroked her hand whose fingers were still intertwined with his. “I don’t mind dear.” He brought her hand to his lips, giving it a light kiss then dropped her hand. The kiss made her face turn a deep shade of red which made Undertaker laugh. “Come dearie. I baked fresh biscuits last night after you went to bed.”

He didn’t want to get dressed first? Not that she cared. She kind of liked seeing him in this way. Not covered in his heavy clothing. She could tell how toned he was. Even as a retired reaper, he still kept his build. He tapped the kitchen table telling her to sit down and got out an urn of biscuits, two glasses and some milk which he poured into both of them.

“Do you eat anything else besides biscuits?” She asked and as the words spilled out of her mouth, she tensed up. What a rude thing to ask.

But Undertaker just laughed and sat down after putting the milk away. “I do, but I like my biscuits better than anything else I can cook.”

Lailah smirked, taking a bite of a biscuits. “Bad cook?”

Undertaker crammed a few biscuits into his milk and let them sit. “Heehee, I wouldn’t say bad. I’m okay at the least. I was a reaper for a very long time and as you know, they provide us with our meals so for a long time, I didn’t need to cook.” He grabbed a spoon out of the sink and started to eat his mushy biscuits out of his milk. “But being a maid for the Phantomhive’s… you should know how to cook.”

Lailah shrugged, watching him with his milk and biscuits. “I know some simple recipes that Sebastian taught me. Although, the Earl likes how I make gateau au chocolat more than Sebastian. The look on his face was quite amusing when the young lord told us.”

“My, I would have loved to see that face of his, heehee.” He finished the mush and drank the rest of whatever was left of the milk in the glass. “Mmm, I have to go out for a bit after this. I’ll make sure to lock up the shop when I leave. It’ll only be for a bit.”

“I promise not to get into trouble.” Lailah said, dipping one of the biscuits into the milk and quickly eating it. She wasn’t going to ruin the milk by making mushy cookies.

“Heehee, of course you won’t.” He got up, put his dishes in the sink and walked past Lailah, making sure to graze his nails along her neck as he past. “I’m going to get ready then I’ll leave. Remember dearie, you are no maid of mine. Just relax.”

He squeezed her shoulder then left to get ready. She took her time eating her so called breakfast. Her wing was numb to the touch and the feather that were left were still stained with blood. No matter how much she scrubbed, the blood wouldn’t come off. After she had finished, she sat at the table, listening for the parlor door to open, close, then lock. “You’re no maid of mine,” Undertaker’s words repeated in her head. _‘But I have to do something to show my appreciation.’_

And there it was. The opening, the closing, and the locking. She took her dishes and washed whatever there was in the sink. After, she looked through the cupboards, finding a spray bottle of just water and a clean-ish rag. She took them, a beaker of water, and the broom, and went into the main parlor. _‘Filfthy,’_ she huffed, putting everything down except for the beaker of water. She watered the sad plant next to the doorway and stared at it for a moment. _‘Why had he bought it?’_ she asked herself again.

Lailah went back to the kitchen to wash out the beaker then started sweeping the parlor’s floor. It was even dustier than the kitchen floor. As expected though. Every day there were dirty men’s boots in and out of the shop. Dead, dirty bodies being brought in without a coffin or even a stretcher to hold them sometimes. It was disgusting. Once she had swept every part of the floor that she could manage to get to, she took the spray bottle and sprayed all the tiny windows, wiping them clean afterwards.

“Oh! That is bright!” She exclaimed as the light blazed through the windows, making the parlor shine. Now for the rest of the room. She dusted off the tops and sides of the coffins, making sure to get all the nooks and crannies. She even shook out the curtains that led to the back of the parlor where he did his work. _‘Now for the walls.’_ Even though they were just walls, they still needed to be at least dusted.

Lailah went for a corner between two coffins. There were a hefty number of cobwebs. Making sure they were all abandoned, she went for it, cleaning up whatever she could. Then, a large, black creature jumped at her face. With a shriek, she quickly backed away rubbing at her face and bumped right into one of the upright coffins. She leaned forward, thinking that would balance her out, but the coffin fell on top of her back. She hit the ground with a moan. Hearing another creaking sound she looked up, but not in time to get out of the way of the other coffin that fell right on to her head, making her go unconscious.

                                                         

* * *

“…Lah….”

Lailah twitched and a moan escaped her.

“Lailah!”

That voice…. “...Under… taker?”

“Can you open your eyes for me, dear?”

She blinked a couple of times and set her gaze on his face. “What had….” Her eyes suddenly widened with the memories that rushed to her. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I-I was… I was just cleaning up because I was bored. I’m sorry! I know you said I wasn’t your maid but-“

His finger pressed against her lips in order to shush her. His smile wasn’t creepy, but warm and inviting just like how he had smiled at Finny that day at the garden center. “You were just cleaning up for me. Thank you.”

“I hope I didn’t break any of your coffins.” She mumbled, trying to get up, but a shooting pain ran throughout her back and she plopped right back down on to her stomach.

“You didn’t, but the more important thing right now is to get you up to the bed and have you lay down.” His voice wasn’t that sing-songy voice that it usually was. It was filled with concern. He bent down at her side and started to get her adjusted in his arms when she suddenly panicked and started to wiggle wildly from his arms.

“S-stop! Please!” Lailah whined. “I-I don’t like when people pick me up! They’re just going to drop me!”

“Heehee, I’m not going to drop you, my little birdie. Besides, you can’t even stand up let alone walk up the stairs. This is the only way you’re getting to the bedroom.”

She bit her lip, hesitating to respond, but he waited for her okay with his arms underneath her. She shifted, tensing up when the pain had suddenly come back and then nodded an okay to him when it ceased. With a firm but gently grip, he lifted her up and cradled her close to his chest which made her own feel like it was about to burst. She held tightly on to his coat and shut her eyes tight as he made his way up the stairs and laid her down on the bed with little to no pain.

“Now, take off your coat-“

“Whaaaat?!” She exclaimed, sitting up quickly and making the pain bring her back down to the bed.

Undertaker chuckled and pushed his sleeves up to his elbows. “I’m going to massage your back, dearie, but I need you to take off that thick coat and your glasses.”

She sighed, taking one last glance at his arms. They, too, had scars on them. Maybe some other time, she would be able to ask him how he got those. For now, though, she obeyed, taking off her coat to reveal her simple, thin, blue undershirt and took off her glasses. Undertaker helped her roll on to her stomach and made sure she was comfortable. She could hear his fingers crack and immediately get to work on her back.

“Oh…O-oh… Undertaker….” Lailah moaned. His hands were magical. They got all the right places and the right pressure at every point.

“My, my, if I keep this up, you might actually orgasm, heehee.” Her face turned bright red and she shut her mouth tight making him laugh even more. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you, dearie.” The faint ringing of the parlor bell made him stop, making her sigh in disappointment. “I’ll be right back to continue. I’ll get you a glass of water as well while I’m at it.”

“Alright.” She nodded and he got up to assumingly check in the first guest of the day. She felt weird suddenly. She had never had someone else actually take care of her the way that he was doing now. She felt weak, helpless, but yet there was a good feeling and it was strong. She knew that others normally looked out for one another, but she had never had that. Not even when she was an angel up in heaven. They all looked down upon her. Asch and Angela were the only ones who she had considered her friends and not even they would help her when she was ill or in pain.

“Love.” Undertaker’s voice snapped her out of the cruel thoughts of the past. “There is another headless body that still has its soul. When you’re feeling better, I’ll need you to take care of it. It wouldn’t be proper to have me collect a soul.”

“Okay- Oh!... _Oh.”_ He had swiftly gone back to kneading her back. His nails grazing over the areas that were exposed skin. She groaned with pleasure, closing her eyes gently. _‘It’s so relaxing,’_ She thought, falling into her desire to sleep. _‘And knowing that he’s the one doing it makes it exciting at the same time. It gives me the chills. It makes my heart pound… I want him.’_


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Implied/Reference to Rape in this chapter.

_“Oh? To the human realm? To celebrate?” Confusion stirred in Lailah’s eyes at the few angels that had appeared before her. She had never been to the human realm before as an angel. It wasn’t against the laws of the heavens, but it was frowned upon to go. Nevertheless, they were actually asking her to join them in a celebration without any urging from Angela or Asch._

_“Yes. We are going to the human realm to celebrate Easter. So… will you join us?” The angel, Arthur, asked again._

_“Yes! Of course I will!” Lailah beamed with a bright smile on her face._

_Arthur nudged the other angels, Ara, Aaron and Alice. They all gave a smirk and then a nod. Lailah was clueless. She really was. She was too… pure to fall any other way. She kept to herself most of the time and when she did go on outings with the others, she knew how to get out of a situation fast. She really was desperate to belong. If the higher ups found out about their plans though, they would fall as well. No matter. They had been planning from the beginning to fall and to reunite with Asch and Angela, and rid the human realm of things impure._

_“Well, then come on. We’re going straight away.” Aaron turned along with the others, and created a portal which they had all leapt into._

_Lailah hesitated for a moment, making sure to put her wings away first before poking at the portal. She could hear the four encouraging her to jump in. She took a breath, and jumped, immediately landing softly on the ground. They had jumped into an alleyway, away from most of society. It was for the better honestly. They couldn’t have humans knowing that they were from another world._

_She brushed herself off and quickly followed the rest of them down the streets of London. The city sure had changed from what little memories of her human life portrayed. All this new technology. She wanted to explore, but she knew they couldn’t be in this realm for more than a few hours. It wasn’t so much that it was dangerous. It just wasn’t the realm for angels to be in for long._

_Something suddenly caught her eye. A man? A handsome one at that. She got a bad vibe from him, but she felt as though she was being pulled towards him. Lailah looked back at the group, but they had gone ahead, not wanting to wait for her. ‘Forget them,’ she thought, and obeyed her legs that wanted to walk towards the man._

_“My, aren’t we the cute one.” The man chuckled, throwing his cigarette on the ground and smashing it under his foot. “Where are the rest of your friends that you were walking with?”_

_“Oh, uhm, I’ll meet up with them later, I suppose.” Lailah was suddenly starting to get a really bad vibe from this man. He was definitely not human. He felt… he felt pure evil and she could kick herself for following her desire to be closer to him. However, her feet wouldn’t move away from him. He was like a current pulling her in when she wanted out._

_The man turned to her and got up right in her face. Those eyes… those dark, bloodthirsty eyes. A demon. She tried to summon her spear, but her lips were trembling and wouldn’t move on command. She felt her knees starting to give out. She was in immediate danger, but she was helpless. Useless._

_The demon licked his lips, sliding a finger down her cheek. “Do not worry. I’m not going to kill you.” He blew air into her face and Lailah started to slowly go unconscious. “We’ll just have a bit off fun and you can be on your way.”_

_"A bit of fun?" she repeated. She was hauled over his shoulder and taken from the alleyway. ‘Where are you taking me?’ she wanted to ask, but she was groggy and still couldn’t move her lips. She couldn’t move any part of her body. It was as limp as a noodle. ‘What is he going to do to me?’ Damn her curiosity. No. It wasn’t curiosity. She was just a dumbass. Useless._

_Lailah was laid down on a table on her stomach. Her legs propped up ever so slightly. She groaned and fingers twitched. She ever so desperately tried to get up. Thrashing at the arms that were keeping her down. A klunking sound followed by the tight squeeze of metal around her arms and wrists. Chains. Restraints. ‘Oh god, what is happening?’ Where were the others? They must have realized that she wasn’t with them._

_“Such soft skin….” The demon snickered and tore her clothes away from her body, exposing everything that she had to offer._

_“P-please….” She managed to breathe out, but the demon ignored her. She snarled, bringing her wings out and thrashing them about which knocked over shelves, bottles, books, and more which she could not make out just by the sound. There was a sharp pain at the tip of her wing. She squeaked and saw the tip of wing fall to the ground._

_“If you keep those things out and wrecking the place, you won’t have them anymore,” The demon said with a menacing grin on his face. He turned around, gathering something and then in one quick movement, there was a scratchy cloth over her eyes and one stuffed into her mouth. Her body trembled wildly and the more she struggled against the chains, the tighter they became._

Lailah sat up straight in bed and screamed bloody murder. Eyes wide with terror. Legs trembled. She felt her arms and wrists for the chains to rip them away, but they weren’t there. Her throat closed after the screaming faded and a hacking cough started up.

A hand lightly touched her shoulder and she ripped it off, holding the wrist attached tightly an arm’s length away from her. “Don’t touch me!” The hand tensed that had touched her tensed up, then relaxed, waiting for Lailah to let go.

“I’m sorry.”

The voice was soothing and kind in tone. She wasn’t with that demon. Not anymore. She was on a bed. A comfortable, purple bed in a dark room. The only light that she could see is the candle flame to the right side of the bed. She looked at the hand that was still tightly in her grasp, then at the bare, scarred arm, then finally at the face that was attached to the body. She immediately let go when she realized it was Undertaker who had come to her side.

“D-did… did I hurt you?” Lailah whispered, looking down at the bed.

“No. You surprised me ‘tis all and besides, I shouldn’t have touched you when you were in that state.” Undertaker smiled, then hesitantly touched her forehead. This time, she let him. “You’re in a cold sweat dearie. Have some water.”

He handed her the beaker and she took it. The water was freezing cold going down her throat. The sensation calmed her down a bit. “It…. it was only a nightmare.” Undertaker took the beaker from her now shaking hand and put his hand on her back. “Another nightmare… come and gone….”

“I figured it was a nightmare. You’ve been screaming for most of the night. I tried to wake you, but you wouldn’t wake up.” Undertaker said. “Would you like to talk about it, my little birdie?”

Lailah shook her head. “No… not particularly.” Undertaker nodded and headed to the door. _‘Where was he going?’_ she frowned and grabbed at the sheets. “Undertaker?” At the doorway, he whipped around with slight curiosity on his face. She took a moment to appreciate his bare chest… whatever she could see of it that was. “Will… will you stay with me? Just for tonight?”

He grinned and tapped a nail to his chin. “My, my. What would the young Lord think if he found out? Heehee.”

Lailah’s brows furrowed, and she scooted over so he could lay on her good side. “I do not care what he would think. He is _not_ my master.” Her face relaxed and with a sigh, she repeated, “Just for tonight?”

He quickly scooted into bed with her, getting comfortable under the covers on her good side. Once comfortable, he opened his arms wide and encouraged her to cuddle with one of his inviting smiles. She obeyed. She got as close to his as she could, snuggling her face into his chest.

“You’re already shaking, love,” He whispered, tightening his grip on her. “Calm down. I won’t let anything hurt you. I promise.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut time? Smut time!  
> I'll be working on an art project for maybe a week or so and I don't know when I'll be able to update during that time, so an update for the time being.

Most mornings were filled with jokes and riddles as usual. Lailah never laughed at the jokes and she couldn’t answer any of the riddles. Most would have been bored with her by now, but Undertaker gave her all of his attention when he wasn’t dealing with customers. It was nice. The feeling of knowing that someone actually wanted to give her their attention.

Most nights he would sit with her until she fell asleep. Then, he would make his way down stairs to sleep in one of his coffins. It wasn’t ideal. She wanted him to stay, but she wouldn’t make him do what he didn’t want to. Nightmares started to dwindle. She only had them every so often. It was pure bliss.

There had been a couple of more bodies that hadn’t been tended to by the reapers. They were all decapitated as well. Lailah mulled it over every time one came in, but she could think of nothing that would cause it except for the higher ups screwing up. It was strange to have them screw up so many times. Even Undertaker was baffled by the number of souls that weren’t being tended to.

“Hello.” The voice made their heads pop up. The bell hadn’t rung on the door and with her eyes growing wide, Lailah knew why. William stood at the door, fixing his glasses with his death scythe holding on to his clip board tightly. Lailah ran and hid herself in one of the upright coffins in the shop.

“Lailah-“

“Lailah isn’t here.” She said in a gruff voice. “Come back later.”

She could hear Will sigh and the coffin opened suddenly. The man stared at her with his frustrated glare and pulled her out of the coffin. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Mmm, nothing?” She shrugged and sauntered back to behind the desk. “How did you know I was here?”

“The higher ups keep tabs on you, you know.” William replied, fixing his glasses yet again.

“I forgot about that….” She forced out a chuckle and then frowned slightly. “So, what do you want?”

William’s gaze turned to the Undertaker who was sitting on a coffin towards the very back of the room. Undertaker was already giggling at the situation. Although, the aura that surrounded him felt as though he was assessing the situation instead of just laughing at the fact that Lailah didn’t want to see Will, or that she was probably about to get into trouble.

“And who are you?” Will asked pointing his scythe at Undertaker.

“Oh, I’m just a mere Undertaker. That’s all.” Undertaker replied, grinning from ear to ear and crossing one leg over the other. Lailah doesn’t change her expression, but she’s curious as to why he didn’t confide in another Shinigami about himself being a Shinigami.

“I’m only here until my wing heals. Don’t worry your horrible haircut too much about it.” Lailah sneers.

“Sorry I’m late, Senior Spears!” Another reaper, who she recognized immediately as Ronald, runs through the door with a smile. He greets William and glances Lailah’s way to which he saunters up to her, fingers running through his hair. He stands closer than he should, taking up her hand and kissing it gently. “Well, hello. My name is Ronald Knox. It’s always a pleasure to meet a lovely lady.”

Undertaker noticeably frowned, but picked up another smile quickly.

Lailah rolled her eyes, setting her gaze away from his and sighing with utter disbelief. “Ronald. You know who I am. Please let go of my hand.”

“Hm? I’ve met you before?” Ronald, seeming shocked that he had forgotten, but he doesn’t let go of her hand.

“We were teamed up for our final exam….”

“Oh! Yes!” His face flushed red with embarrassment. “I-I’m sorry, but I forgot your name.”

“Lailah Pultzner.” She replied. She took her hand away from his with a pout. “Why are you here, William?”

William breathed to give an explanation, but Ronald winked and tapped her nose with his finger which made her lean back in disgust. “Someone’s been a naughty lady.”

“Knox, cut it out. You couldn’t handle her anyway,” William growled for the first time since she had known him. He was always so serious, even got angry sometimes, but never let out a menacing growl like that. Will looks through his clipboard notes and then begins his explanation again, “First, you did not come to see me when you first got injured. You didn’t fill out paperwork saying that you got injured on the job and you failed to tell me that you were staying somewhere else besides the Phantomhive estate.”

“Naughty naughty-“

With a harsh jab to his side, Lailah elbowed Ronald, making him shut up for just one moment. “I know barely any other reaper enjoys seeing my face in the reaper realm. I do not want to deal with that.” _‘And I do not want to fill out paper work,’_ she plans to say, but shuts her mouth in time.

“That is not an excuse.” William looks down at his clipboard, fixes his glasses, then looks back up. “You have also been collecting souls not on the To-die list-“

Lailah stands up straight, slamming her hands on the desk in front of her. “That is a lie! I haven’t been out of this parlor since the day I got here, first of all. Second, whatever souls I had collected, have been in this parlor and they have all been dead already!”

“Is that so?” William turned to Undertaker. “I’m assuming you are aware that she is a Shinigami and you have seen her collect those souls?”

Undertaker nodded in agreement. “Heehee, yes. I’ve seen her collect souls. These bodies were all dead beforehand. I promise ya’.” He chuckled again, switching his position and crossing the other leg over.

“Hm. We’ll have to investigate it. The higher ups sometimes mess up, but with how many souls you’ve been collecting here, it’s not just a mess up. This is serious.” Will nodded to Lailah. “Sorry to have accused you. Do you have anything to report while I’m here?”

“Yes. Get a new hairstylist.”

“What did I expect from you?” Will sighed, starting towards the door. “Come on Knox. We’ll leave.”

“Your girlfriend is probably waiting for you back in the reaper realm anyway.” Lailah smirked, letting out a low chuckle and sitting back down.

“Grell Sutcliff is most definitely _not_ my girlfriend!” William glared at her from over the shoulder. There was serious tension in the air, but Lailah was enjoying it too much.

“But Senior Spears, that’s not what I heard about you and her-“ Ronald was cut off with William’s death scythe clipping just inches from his lips.

Lailah’s eyes grew wide with a face of triumph. “So, it _is_ true.”

“Goodbye.” William took his leave, dragging Ronald away with him.

Lailah’s face of triumph faded into a more aged look. Her chin went down to the desk, she sighed and rubbed the sides of her head. This was already stressful as is. She didn’t need to be accused of crimes now. Hands were at her shoulders; rubbing them gently. “This… is going to be the death of me.”

Undertaker chuckled, putting his face at the side of her head. “I wouldn’t say that, my little birdie. You’re a very capable woman.”

She turned, making the rubbing stop, and looked up at him. Eyes full of curiosity. “Why do you believe so much in me?”

She was answered with a look of surprise from Undertaker. “My dear, you fell from heaven and instead of wanting to destroy humans, you became a Shinigami. That, in itself, is true strength and still only part of the reason why I believe so much in you.” Undertaker put up his hand; a wait signal, then proceeded to close up the shop and lock the door. He then made his way back to Lailah, taking ahold of one hand and placing his other hand under her chin. “Little birdie… will you allow me to make you feel beautiful?”

“Hm?” An eyebrow cocked in confusion, but she quickly realized what he meant and her face grew hot and red. “You… want to make me feel beautiful?’

“If that won’t be a problem.” Undertaker grinned, bringing his lips down to meet hers. Gently at first, then a more passionate kiss commenced until she broke away, only a few inches away.

“Undertaker-“

“Please, call me by my real name,” He said. He gripped her chin and coaxed her on to the balls of her feet. “Ankou.”

Lailah was about to just accept it; closing her eyes and ready to accept another kiss from him, but her eyes snapped open and she backed away from him. “Ankou?! You’re Ankou?! You’re the legendary reaper?!”

“My my, we’re quite surprised, heehee.” He kept his distance, waiting for her to accept that fact. “Although, I’d rather the young Earl, or anyone, not know this fact.”

Lailah gave a shaky nod. “W-why… why does a legendary reaper want me? Of all creatures?”

Undertaker moved towards her slowly, giving her a chance to stop him if she needed, but she allowed him to come as close as he wanted. He took the hand that Ronald had kissed, and he too kissed it with multiple then replied, “I have grown attached to you, my dear. At first, it was just fascination, but now… now it’s something different; something more than just fascination. I admire you. I want you, my little birdie. And-“ He kissed her hand again and turned his face up to hers with a grin. “I am a _very_ possessive man. Another man flirting with you just didn’t sit well with me.”

Fascination turned into something more? Romance? Or was it just sexual? Her heart raced either way, and her breathing was quick. _‘I want you,’ ‘I admire you,’_ his words repeated multiple times in her head. She wanted him too. She had already figured that out. ”Mmm,” She nodded. “Just… one request.”

“Heehee, whatever you wish,” He said, taking off his beads, sash funeral lockets, and coat and placing them on top of one of the closed coffins in the parlor.

“Reveal your face.”

“As you wish.” The hat came off immediately. With his face just inches away from hers, he pushed up his bangs to reveal his face. Lailah’s own face became a darker red. She couldn’t help staring into those Shinigami eyes that complemented the rest of his face so well. She had already figured he wasn’t an old man at all, but now she could tell that he was around her age… and he was the most beautiful man that she had ever laid eyes upon. “Does this satisfy you, my dear?”

Lailah grabbed the back of his head and her lips met his once more. They were warm and luscious, and tasted like those biscuits that he always ate. His hands went under her ass and lifted her up. Her legs went around his waist as he carried her back to the coffin desk, laying her down on it and quickly ripping open her coat. She whined as the buttons flew everywhere.

“Don’t worry, love. I’ll fix those later,” Ankou told her.

Lailah slipped off the coat then took off the silky, blue undershirt that she wore, exposing herself to the retired reaper. Those lovely green eyes of his went from her own to her breast. His hands cupping each respectively and giving them gently squeezes. She shuddered at his touch, liking the feeling of his nails grazing her skin as he squeezed.

Then came his lips to greet her now erect nipple. His tongue swirled around it, then he started to suck, making little noises of pleasure escape her. She could feel him grin against her skin as he continued. Her fingers eventually found their courage to run through his hair and whenever he sucked, she pulled lightly.

He kissed her nipple once more, then her lips, then stood up straight to take off his inner coat. Lailah unwrapped her legs from around his waist to allow his coat to easily fall to the floor, then wrapped themselves back around.  Lailah sat up and traced the scars on his chest and stomach.

Her tracing made its way to his abs, and she had gotten halfway down when he laughed suddenly and grabbed her hand from his stomach. “Sorry. That tickles.” Ankou explained.

Ankou quickly dropped to his knees, sliding off her boots and undoing her pants, tugging on them slightly as if begging her to shift herself just enough to take them off fully. Lailah gave in and Ankou pulled both her pants and panties off. As soon as he had revealed her sweet spot, he pushed open her legs and kissed up her inner thigh to it. She wiggled her hips a bit to coax him to her spot faster.

“My, aren’t we an impatient little birdie?” He chuckled, but obeyed her wish.

“Ha-ah…. A-ah….” It hadn’t even been half a minute and he was already figuring her out. What she liked. What made her moan. What made her squirm. His masterful tongue continued to work and play around while his nails ran up and down her inner thighs slowly. She burning up. Her heart was about to explode from her chest. Her hands that barely touched the top of his head, grabbed a tuft of his hair and pulled a bit harder than last time.

He suddenly stopped and a wave of disappointment washed over her. “Denying me, hm?”

He stood up with a cheeky grin on his face, unbuttoning his pants and pulling them down just enough. Her eyes widened slightly at his size. He leaned over her, his arms on each side of her head. His face came down just inches from hers. She could feel his warm, sweet breath as he whispered with a husky voice, “I want to feel you squeezing me. Every single time you reach your climax.”

He slid his member up and down on her mound, making her moan. He took the opportunity to kiss and sliding his tongue in to her mouth; tasting every inch of her. She could taste herself on his tongue, and she as well slid her own tongue in to his mouth. He pressed his length to her entrance and slowly pushed himself in, making her moan into his mouth.

He pulled away from her face, and his eyes met hers. “Am I hurting you?”

She shook her head. “No. You aren’t.”

A hand cupped her cheek and slowly at first, he started to thrust into her. They kept eye contact as he pulled himself out and pushed back in; growing faster and harder with each passing minute. His unpreoccupied hand snaked down to her mound and continued what his tongue had been doing. At the touch, she started to squirm and whine as the two sensations were overwhelming in a good way.

“Say my name.” He demanded.

“A-Ankou.”

“Louder.” His voice had become gruff and a bit shaky.

“Haa…. Ankou.” Her body started to tremble and she bucked underneath him.

“Louder!”

She bit her lip hard. The pleasure was too much, and her climax finally released. His hand went to her back as she leaned back. Her breathing erratic as she yelled his name. He grinned at the moaning, the yelling, and most of all, the feeling of her pulsating around him. He too released himself inside her at the end of her own orgasm. She could feel his warm, oozing liquid inside her. He slowed, eventually stopping, but stayed in her as they both caught their breath and again, stared into each other’s eyes as they did.

Ankou moved forward slightly and kissed her sensitive skin at the crook of her neck. “Let’s go upstairs, love. We can take a bath together and I can show you even more of a fun time.”


	11. Chapter 11

Little tickles fluttered on her face. One eye opened and then the other soon followed. Ankou, with his back to her, was still sleeping and his long, silver hair had gotten everywhere. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up, looking around at the scene. Of course it was dark since, no light could get into the bedroom, but she could feel that it was a little past sunrise.

Lailah gazed back at Ankou and pondered for a moment. All that hair… She gently grabbed a few bunches of it and started a braid. His hair was silky and soft to the touch; she hadn’t realized it when she was running her fingers through his hair during sex. Well, it’s not like that was the thing she would have been interested in at the time.

“Having fun, my little birdie? Heehee.”

“Oh!” She gasped and dropped the braid. “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

Ankou shook his head as he sat up in the bed. “I’ve been awake for a while.”

She put her hand on his cheek and gave him a light kiss. “I’m going to clean up and get dressed. Would you like me to make you something to eat? I’d be more than happy to.”

His eyes darted, looking her up and down before smirking in acceptance. “Alright, dearie. What’s for breakfast?”

The way he was glancing at her put her in a trance of some sorts. Those eyes. His grin. The bangs that messily fell in his face. He was such a beautiful man. She didn’t deserve anyone’s kindness, especially his.

“Oh, hm?” She shook her head at the realization that he had asked her a question. “What’s for breakfast? Hm, I can make you proper pancakes if you’d like. Sebastian has taught me many recipes, but that’s the one I think I make the best.”

“Heehee,” He ran his fingers through the bangs that were in his face; his smile growing a bit wider. “Proper pancakes it is then.”

She smiled bright and clapped her hands together in confirmation. “Okay! I’ll get right to it after I-“

“Hold on.”

“Hm?” She cocked her head in confusion. “Do you not want pancakes anymore?”

“Heehee, it’s not that, my dear.” He turned his head and gazed down at her face. “I haven’t seen you not force a smile the whole time you’ve been here except for just now.”

“I… I smiled….” She did. She hadn’t forced it either. Lailah smiled brighter with a slight blush to her cheeks. “I did, yes.” She turned away and headed for the bathroom. She could hear his usual high pitched giggling behind her. She took a breath and closed the door, readying herself for the day.

Once out of the bath, she wrapped a towel around her and stepped out into the bedroom to get dressed. Spread out on the bed was Ankou who seemed to have fallen back into a light sleep. The braid that she had done still in his hair. She stared for a moment, admiring him, then got dressed.

As she tugged at her coat from under the pile of their clothes, she heard a jingle, then a clanking, seeing something goldish fall to the floor. Undertaker’s funeral lockets. How did they get there? He must have forgotten to put them on the end table as he was getting ready for bed last night. Lailah picked them up carefully and stared at them in wonder. They were so beautiful. Too bad there wasn’t any light in the room.

_‘Harry E., Alex B., Claudia P.….’_

“Mmm, must have forgotten to put them on the end table last night.” She jumped and whirled around. A sleepy Ankou grinned at her, scratching at his head and gave a little yawn. “Sorry, dearie. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“N-no. It’s okay…. They’re so beautiful.”

Lailah handed them to him and he nodded in thanks. “They’re my treasure.”

_‘Treasure…?’_

“Go back to sleep,” She said, kissing his lips gently. “You still look exhausted. I’ll come get you when breakfast is ready.”

Lailah went downstairs to the kitchen and got the ingredients she needed, mixed them into a batter and started the stove when all of a sudden, a pain shot through her left side and to her wing. It was a scorching pain that grew more painful with each second. A high pitch shriek escaped her lips and she fell to her knees. _‘So, this is what it really feels like to have your wings grow back,_ ’ she thought to herself, still in complete agony and holding on to her wing. As the pain increased, she could feel the bone of the wind grow. It wasn’t anywhere near full length, but it had been something. All this time here and it just now had started to grow back. It would take _more_ than a month for it to fully grow back, she was sure of it.

“Are you alright, love?” Undertaker kneeled down next to her with heavy concern on his face. She hadn’t heard him rush downstairs. Maybe she had screamed more than she had thought she did. It looked as though he was in the middle of getting dressed too.

Lailah winced and looked slightly upward at Ankou. “It’s j-just my wing… I-it’s very painful when it grows. I’m sorry if I made you worry.”

“Maybe you should sit down. Don’t worry about breakfast.”

Lailah shook her head and took a deep breath. “I-I’m fine. It’s not… as painful anymore. A few more moments and I’ll be good to go.” She smiled gently. “Go finish getting dressed. When you come back down, breakfast will be ready.”

“A stubborn one, aren’t you? Heehee.” He kissed her forehead. She was almost positive that she would have to make him leave, but he stood up making her feel relieved. “But don’t push yourself, my little birdie.” He nodded and swiftly entered the shadows of the hallway.

There was a sudden cracking sound, as her wing grew a bit in size once more and then the pain vanished. Lailah shook the aftermath off and stood up, hovering over the now burning hot pan. She inhaled, then started to make the pancakes. What did he want in them? As she made them, she put all sorts of different types of fruit in them so that he had options. For herself, berries were just fine. Once done, she made sure to turn off the heat and set the table with the pancakes in the middle.

“Heehee, they smell wonderful, my dear.” That high pitched, sing-songy voice was back along with his bangs covering half his face. Ah well, she would get to see his eyes again after he closed up shop for the day. “What did you put in them?”

“Well, I didn’t know what you exactly wanted in them. So, I made a little bit of each filling.” Lailah sat down when he did and waited for him to take a bite of one before she dug into her own.

“Oh, a surprise breakfast then? Well, I do enjoy surprises.” He grabbed one with his fork, cut off a piece and stuffed it into his mouth. A bit of drool came from his bottom lip as he made sounds of pleasure and stuffed his face again without swallowing the first piece.

“I’m assuming you like it?” Lailah giggled and started enjoying her own pancakes.

He nodded, finishing his first pancake and taking another. “I haven’t had a meal made for me in a long time… Well, not like this anyway.”

“Hm?” She blinked and cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘not like this’?”

“The young Earl invites me to dinner sometimes. That butler is the one making me dinner, but it’s not the same as a beautiful lady _offering_ to make me a meal instead of being told to do so.”

Lailah slumped slightly. Her cheeks getting hot and red. The Undertaker chuckled and finished his second pancake. “I’ll clean up. Take your time, my dear.”

He packed up the remaining pancakes, putting them in the ice box for later, and washed his dishes. She watched him as he did so. The clanking sound of his boots as he strode through the kitchen was soothing. The jingle of the lockets around his hip assisted. His nails tapped at the plate as he washed them and it was pure bliss to her. Ankou turned around with a grin and stuck out his hand. “May I?”

“Oh!” She quickly finished her pancake and handed him her dishes. “Thank you for cleaning up.”

“Heehee, you made me breakfast so it’s only fair that I do my share,” He said.

She chuckled and then let out a sigh. “I wish other people would share that ideology.”

He nodded. “’Tis very sad how people show little respect and thanks to one another.” He turned off the sink and turned back to Lailah. “Will you be joining me in the main parlor today?”

“Of course!” She beamed and followed him to the parlor.

She sat down in her usual spot behind the desk as he officially opened the shop. There were a number of people going in and out all day. It had been pretty busy in the English Underworld apparently. A lot of death and it filled the air in the parlor to the point where it was almost suffocating. At least all of them had been visited by reapers. Maybe it was just a higher-up mistake and not anything more serious.

The sun had started to set and the customers dwindled to nothing. Undertaker moved all the bodies into temporary coffins and took them to the back to eventually work on. Lailah stood and moved towards the amaryllis at the front of the shop. The petals had finally stopped falling off, but still, it hadn’t perked up like most of the others that had been with it at the garden center.

“Undertaker… I’ve been meaning to ask you why you bought that sad, looking amaryllis from the garden center.” She bent down in front of it, putting her hand to a flower and lifting it slightly with her finger tips. “It doesn’t seem like the type of thing that you would put in your shop.”

She heard the heaviness of his boots stop just behind her. His hands went to her shoulders and he bent over her, looking at the flower himself between his silver bangs. “It reminds me of you, my little birdie.”

“Me?” Lailah turned and looked up at him with confusion on her face. “Why?”

Ankou knelt down beside her, taking a long stroke to her hair. His nails felt strangely good as they pulled through the knots. He then placed a hand on the small of her back; the other caressing her cheek. “You’re a lot like this flower. You’re gorgeous, but you’re so sad. Your colors aren’t bright like they are supposed to be anymore, and even when given a lot of love and care, you still look sad.”

“That’s-“

“I do not mean it to be insulting.” He cut her off, glancing at the flower and then back to her. “I do think that it’s happier here instead of being trapped in that… _cage_ with all the other flowers. It’ll just be a bit before it looks happy and bright.” He chuckled, then calmed down and put his forehead to Lailah’s. “You personally look happier here with me too.”

She closed her eyes with a smirk and a loud exhale, then opened her eyes again. “I will not deny it. I _am_ happier here with you.”

“However,” His hand trailed down her cheek, across her jawline to under her chin. He took his forehead a few inches away from hers and titled her face up. His eyes were covered with his bangs like he always had it throughout the day, but knowing that his beautiful eyes were looking at her made her heart skip a beat. “Like this flower, I can still feel the sadness that radiates from you. Whatever, or whoever has hurt you, once you overcome that situation I am sure your colors will once again shine bright.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet smut. No smut after this for a while. Takes place immediately after last chapter. No time skip of any sort.

“Shine bright….” Lailah whispered, pushing his bangs away from his face to reveal his bright, glowing green eyes. She took a breath and kissed him hard, pushing him down to the floor and getting on top of him. She slipped her tongue into his mouth, making sure to explore every inch until he couldn’t help himself and let out a fit of giggles.

“Oh my, I hadn’t realized that my little birdie liked being the dominate one.” Undertaker chuckled, bring his hands up and grabbing at her waist. His thumbs fumbling with the edge of her coat.

She lightly slapped his hands away and with a wink, she wagged her finger. “No touching.”

Ankou pouted, bringing his hands to his bangs and pushing them away. “I can’t touch you? Have I been bad?” Oh those eyes…. They made her weak, but she wasn’t about to give in to them.

“You’ve been very bad. I might have to teach you a lesson.” She smirked and kissed his lips. Then his jaw. Neck. Chest. Stomach. She could feel him shiver in delight as she unbuttoned the bottom on his coats and undid his pants. Her touch made his member throb slightly and made Ankou himself take a deep breath in. She wrapped her hand around him, giving him a few long strokes.

“I haven’t closed up shop yet, dearie,” Ankou said, sitting up on to his elbows.

Lailah smirked. “Oh? Are you afraid someone will walk in on us? Isn’t that a little _exciting_?” His member suddenly twitched and seemed to grow harder at her words.

“Heehee, this old man has to be careful with excitement.” Ankou said before shuddering and tossing his head back at Lailah’s continuation of her strokes. “This heart of mine might just pop out of my chest.”

“I’ll try to be careful with you then,” Lailah chuckled, giving a lick to his member. He shivered with an escaping groan from his throat. Her tongue danced just under his head. Her right hand quickened with its strokes and her left hand grazed up and down his inner thigh. She took one last, long lick as though his length was a lollipop then put him in her mouth. He was too big to go all the way, but that wasn’t the trick to nicely done oral. She bobbed her head, slowly at first. Her hand keeping attention to the rest that her mouth couldn’t hold. Every time she got to his tip, her tongue swirled around it.

Ankou let out a gasp, and she felt a sudden pop of warm liquid in her mouth. She took a big gulp and it trickled down her throat. Her mouth left his now throbbing member. She licked the cloudy liquid off her hand. Hands went around her waist and with a little yelp, she was back on top of Ankou with a kiss from him that was so passionate that she could melt into him.

Instead, she sat back up and straddled him. Looking down at him, straight in his multi-green eyes, she stripped her coat off then her shirt. “You can touch now-ahhh!” He had grabbed her upper back and bent her back down with his face in her chest. He sucked hard, popping some small blood vessels; marking her so that everyone would know that she was his. “A-Ankou….”

He stopped and rolled over so that he was on top. “Sorry love, but I’m in charge now.” He slipped off her boots quickly and teared off her pants and panties. He pulled her to him and pick up her bottom half, making sure she wrapped her legs around his waist in order to keep her waist up and in position. He centered himself, teasing her entrance with his length just a little, then pushed himself in, letting out a low moan as he did.  

“Ahhaa… ha-ah… Ankou….” Lailah shook and shivered with delight as his pacing grew faster. It wasn’t like the first time where he had gone slow at first and built up the pace. He was going all out from the start.

Ankou bent over, pressing his forehead to hers and stared into her eyes as he continued his thrusts. “If you keep that moaning up, I’m going to climax before I even get a chance to give you your own pleasure.”

Lailah tightened her legs around him and smirked. “My moans aren’t about to cease anytime soon.”

Ankou smirked back and with a finger, he started to rub in circular motions around her mound, making her moans turn into gasps and screams. “Those aren’t moans anymore, my dear.”

She grabbed his hair and pulled gently. _‘Dastard.’_

Ankou’s breathing was erratic now and his thrusting was at full speed. Lailah’s back arched. She pulled his hair harder with one hand and the other scratched at the floorboards. Sweat dripped down Ankou’s forehead and with a few last thrusts, that warm liquid was back inside her. He kissed her deeply as she pulsated around his member.

She dropped her legs from around his waist, fixed her cloudy glasses, and gave herself a few seconds to normalize her breathing before speaking, “Me being the only one _fully_ naked seems to be a re-occurring theme here.”

Undertaker chuckled and pulled himself from her. “You’re correct. I’m so terribly sorry. You’ll have to do better and dominating me next time.” A wink and then he covered his eyes with his bangs once more. He paused suddenly and then quickly locked the front door. “Heehee, if you could, my little birdie, go upstairs and get a bath running. I’ll be up in a bit.”

“Hello?” There was heavy knocking at the door. “Undertaker, are you still open?”

“Heehee, I’ll be with you in just a second.” He turned and urged her up the stairs, piling her clothes in a casket and closing it. He fixed his pants, did up his buttons and unlocked the door; quickly whipping around the desk and putting on his little, cheeky grin as a show. “And how can I help you today?”


	13. Chapter 13

“This heat is the thing that’s going to put me in my grave.” Dramatic, yes, but this heat was overwhelming. She had removed her coat, put her hair up into a neatly done bun, and tried to fan herself, and Undertaker, with her full wing. Undertaker, however, was still fully clothed; not sweating a bit. He looked as happy as ever.

“Oh, it’s not so bad, dearie,” He said, peeking out the window. “Besides, I expect to get a lot of customers today with this heat, heehee.”

She shook her head with a grin. “You really love this job, don’t you?”

“It’s so much fun. I get to make my guests beautiful.” He replied, clanking his boots over to his newest guest that had come in just an hour ago. “By the by, I think your boss is heading this way.”

“My boss….?” She cocked her head, but understood when William walked into the parlor with his serious glare plastered on his face. “Ah. That boss.”

“Hello, Lailah. Undertaker.” William nodded at both of them and pushed up his glasses. “Since you’re just sitting here doing nothing, I thought I might drop by and give you some paper work.”

“…Really? You can’t do your own paper work? You don’t even collect. You just sit in your office all day,” Lailah sneered.

“I have to deal with incompetent subordinates as well.” William dropped the pile of paper work in front of her. “Make sure you do these correctly. I don’t want to have to fix anything.”

Lailah leafed through the papers. This wasn’t just some paper work. It was a whole stack that contained at least 60 pages’ work of writing. She sat back in her chair and sighed. “Alright. I guess it’ll take my mind off things.”

“Also-,” Out of his jacket, he pulled out a folder; a collection folder. “If you could collect this soul, it would really be of help.”

She grabbed at the folder and started to wave it around wildly. “Tch! What would the higher ups think of you giving an injured subordinate a soul to collect?”

“They already okayed the idea.”

Lailah huffed and opened the folder. Her grip tightened on the folder, giving it dents, bends, and creases that made William’s face twist with dissatisfaction, but he didn’t stop her. Her face grew dark and dropped towards her chest. “You can’t get anyone else to do this?”

“They have all refused. Even Grell. Honestly, they should all be as heartless as you if-“

A blade was at his neck in a heartbeat. Lailah had summoned her scythe and aimed it at his throat. It hadn’t punctured his skin though. Lailah growled, baring her teeth with a frown. Furrowing her eyebrows to match. William’s eyes widened for a second, then relaxed, but he frowned slightly at the blade at his neck.

“Don’t say that again.” Lailah hissed, pushing her scythe closer to his neck. “I’m not heartless.”

William cleared his throat then gently pushed the blade to the side away from his neck. “It was not mean as an insult. Honestly Lailah, calm down and put your scythe away. Your other half is showing.”

“My…. other half?” Her fallen angel side. That’s what he meant, correct? The attitude in which all fallen angels had. All they wanted to do was purge the world, maybe even the other realms, of sin and if that meant killing, they wouldn’t hesitate.

“I can see why most of the other reapers don’t feel comfortable around you,” William continued, backing away from her towards the door. “You won’t need to worry about anymore collecting until you’re fully healed. Just do this one for the dispatch.”

Her scythe finally dropped to her side and vanished. “I understand.”

William nodded, “And will you put your coat back on? You’re indecent.” and then took his leave. Lailah sat back down and reviewed the file again, ignoring the comment about her coat. She was always given the children to collect. Maybe it _was_ truly because no one else had the heart to collect, or maybe the higher ups just liked tormenting her. Either way, it was her job to collect them, no matter how old the person was.

“What’s wrong with this collection, love?” Undertaker had come up behind her and peered over her shoulder to see the file. Obviously, without glasses it was hard for him to see, but he tried his best.

“They always have me collect children’s souls.” She brought the file closer to him so he could potentially read it himself. “This one… is only two.”

“Ah… it’s always sad when a child is collected.”

“But a collection is my job. I can’t take it to heart.” She closed the file, and checked the time. She had a bit, but it was always good to be early to a job. “Mmm, maybe he’s right. Maybe I am heartless.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say you’re heartless. It’s a shinigami’s job to collect souls. You’re merely doing your job.” He was trying to help, she knew that, but it wasn’t working.

She sighed and got up with the file in hand, and walked towards the door. “I’ll be back after this collection.”

“Would you like me to join you?”

Lailah whipped around. “You want to join me in a collection?”

Ankou nodded, passing her to hold the door open. “I haven’t gone to a collection in such a long time. It’ll be nice to see one being done again, heehee.” He nodded again at Lailah to pass so that he could lock up.

She obeyed. As he locked up, she opened the file again and checked the location of the collection. “This is in the slums of London. I wouldn’t be surprised if this child was dying due to the heat.”

“Poor thing.” He had put his keys away, shook his arms and legs out, and jumped to the top of the building. Lailah’s eyes widened at the sight. He was a Shinigami after all, but seeing him use those abilities were still new to her. Ankou peered over the roof and waved to her. “Come on, dearie. The soul isn’t going to collect itself.”

Lailah grinned and joined him on the rooftop. A few things felt odd to her. For starters, she was jumping the rooftops with Ankou. The legendary reaper himself! William would be quite jealous if he ever found out. The second thing was the fact that she jumping the rooftops with her injured wing out and flailing about. It felt weird to feel the wind blowing on it. The wing didn’t have any feathers either. That was the strange part. If she had feathers, the wind wouldn’t feel so strange on her wing.

“Hm,” She had stopped on an old, rickety, rooftop to examine her surroundings. Ankou joined her on the same roof and leafed through the file that she held. Lailah’s ears picked up a sound, sort of like crying. She nodded to herself and followed the sound with Ankou right behind her.

They came to an alleyway and peering over the roof, Lailah could see a young woman in rags with beads of sweat pouring down her face, a young man also in rags with beads of sweat pouring down his face, and in the woman’s arms was the child. The child was beat red, probably from sunburn and the heat in general, crying, and holding on to the mother for dear life. The father had gathered whatever water he could in a bucket and trying to cool the child down with dipped rags.

Lailah glanced at the time on Big Ben. Her scythe came to her side and she twirled it as she waited for the next few minutes to pass. “It won’t be much of a cinematic record. I must admit, that’s probably my favorite part of this whole soul collection job.” She stopped twirling and sat down with her legs over the rooftop. “I don’t remember my human life, so I like seeing how other people lived in their own memories.”

Ankou sat down next to her, peering at the family below them. “Makes sense to me, dearie. People crave what they can’t have.”

Big Ben rang loud with the time and Lailah jumped from the rooftop, making her slow descent on the child. “That is too true, Ankou.” She brought her scythe up, the blade gleaming in the sunlight, and struck the child in the chest. “To see one’s memories when you can’t remember your own.” The cinematic record burst out of the child. As she thought; it was a short one filled with sadness. “Memories are what I crave the most and I am jealous of those who have them.”

The child suddenly stopped crying and went limp in the mother’s arms. The mother gently shook the child. Then started to shake harder, yelling the child’s name with tears streaming down her face. The father grabbing the mother and holding her in his arms, trying to calm her down, but he also had tears streaming down his face. Something in Lailah’s heart wanted to cry with them, but she didn’t know why it wanted to join them. Yet, she knew that she couldn’t for several reasons.

Her scythe sucked up the rest of the soul and she rejoined Ankou atop of the roof. “Just as I thought. The child had died due to the heat. What a shame. Being cool in this weather shouldn’t be a privilege.”

“Indeed.” Ankou nodded. “Shall we head back to my shop? _We_ might die of the heat if we stay out her much longer, heehee.”

Lailah chuckled and rolled her eyes, taking a jump to the next rooftop. “Don’t you think it’s a little too soon to be making those types of jokes?”

Ankou joined her for a second, then jumped to the next roof. “You have to get the jokes in while you can when you can live forever like us.”

Lailah nodded, rejoining him on the next roof. Her hand went to his cheek and she gave him a light kiss on his warms lips. “Once again, you are correct, Ankou. Now… let’s see if an old man can get back to his shop before his younger partner.”

Ankou grinned and jumped away from her, but this time, didn’t wait for her at the next rooftop. “Heehee, I like the challenge my dear, but it’s not much of a challenge since I know I will win.”

And of course, he did.


	14. Chapter 14

Lailah’s wing was fully healed and both of them knew that she would have to return to the Phantomhive manor that day. Sebastian and Ciel had already been contacted and were already headed to the parlor. Sebastian had suggested that Lailah just fly to the manor herself, but Ciel had some invitation for Undertaker that he wanted to give in person. Lailah and Ankou both sat in the main parlor in silence; not wanting the young Earl to ever show up. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay somewhere that she was actually wanted.

“Mmm, they’re taking their time, aren’t they?” Lailah sighed, turning the pages in her to-die list. She would have to start collecting full time again as well, which wasn’t so bad. It got her out of the manor and she could sneak to see Undertaker after her collections.

“The young Earl always takes his time, heehee,” Undertaker replied. He sat down beside her and pushed some strands of her hair behind her ear. “It’s going to be quite lonely here without you, dearie.”

Lailah closed her eyes and frowned. “… These past two months… have been the happiest months of my afterlife.”

Undertaker chuckled, running a nail down her cheek and kissing the trail. “I’m sure the Earl will allow you to visit and allow me to visit as well. Cheer up dearie.”

“I’ll cheer up for good when I’m not tied down to a demon.”

The bell to the shop rang just then, and the earl and Sebastian came in. Both of them looking grump as per usual. Ciel grumbled something under his breath and sat down on one of the coffins in the middle of the parlor. Undertaker grinned and clasped his hands together.

“Hello there, my lord and butler.”

“You have my thanks for watching over Lailah while she healed, Undertaker,” Ciel said, putting his hat down next to him and sighing again.

“It was not a problem, heehee. She was a _lovely_ guest. I’m sad to see her go.” Undertaker’s grin grew a bit wider. “Something seems to be bothering you, my lord. What is it?”

The young Earl pinched the bridge of his nose and scrunched his face up in annoyance. “Some government official is coming to the manor tonight, and so is Lizzie who wants to have a ball or something. I don’t have the energy to deal with nobles and more government officials so I’d like to ask that you attend this… whatever it is.”

“Oh my my! What an invitation!” Undertaker chuckled. “Would I really be able to fit in at this ball and meet a government official of the Queen’s?”

Lailah’s eyes noticed his quick little frown at his mention of the Queen. She knew he didn’t like her, but why? She was trying to make England an amazing nation. Why did Undertaker hate her so? Was it… was it something more personal perhaps?

“I assume it would be fine if you just take off your outer coat and maybe get rid of the hat, or exchange it for a real top hat,” Sebastian said. “No need to dress all fancy.”

“Which reminds me-,“ Ciel faced Lailah who was intent on not moving from Undertaker’s side until they had to leave. I have Nina Hopkins coming tonight to attend and to make you some new maid outfits. You barely fit into Mey-rin’s.”

“Oh! Well, how kind of the young master. They were a little too tight for me.” In the chest area to be specific, but she wasn’t about to say that. Besides, Sebastian was probably the one who had noticed.

“It’s supposed to storm tonight as well, so I’d make sure you pack to stay the night, Undertaker,” Sebastian glared between the two of them. Well, Undertaker did have his hand on her thigh, and he was closer to her face than he should be. No wonder why he was glaring.

“Will you wait for me to get my things together? I wouldn’t want my poor mule out and about during a storm, heehee. She’s quite frightened of those ya’ know.” Undertaker got up and took to the stairs to get his things together.

“You and Undertaker seem to have had a great time together these past few months, hm?” Sebastian smirked, bring his hand up to rub his chin.

Lailah put her to-die list away. Cocking her eyebrow at Sebastian, she tapped her foot against the desk and nodded. “We did have a great time together. Why do you ask?”

“Well, humans die. You know that-“

“Death is an everyday occasion in the human realm. Reapers should be able to deal with it.” She knew he wasn’t a human. She knew he wasn’t going to die, but thinking about such a thing made her uneasy.

She wanted to protect him.

She needed to protect him.

Undertaker eventually came down with a new top hat and a suitcase, already to go. Sebastian opened the door for all of them; Undertaker flipping the sign to CLOSED and locking the door as he left. Lailah sat up front with Sebastian while Ciel and Undertaker sat in the carriage.

“So, who is this government official coming tonight?” Lailah asked, checking her nails and figuring she needed a manicure.

“No one you would know.” Oh, that cheeky little demon. “It’s the official and his wife. The young master has invited Lau and Ran-mao, Undertaker, and a few other acquaintances. The Lady Elizabeth and her brother, Master Edward, are also coming, of course.”  

“Sounds great.” Honestly, she didn’t care. She wanted to know the name of the official so she could see if his name was on the to-die list. That’s all.

Thunder cracked above as they made their way down the dirt road that led directly to the manor. No rain just yet. Just thunder and a bit of lightning. However, the wind was picking up and the horse pulling the carriage was getting restless. Sebastian pushed him onward, getting to the manor quicker than usual.

“Ms. Lailah!” Finny came bounding out of the manor and hopped on to Lailah once she had come down from the carriage. “We were so worried! The young master said you got hurt and weren’t returning for some time! We thought you had died!”

She could hear Undertaker trying not to laugh hysterically at the poor boy. Lailah smiled and smoothed back his hair. “I’m okay, yes. I’ve missed you and all the others as well.” Her hand went to his shoulder and gently pushed him away. “Why don’t you take Undertaker’s suitcase and head inside?”

Finny nodded, grabbing the suitcase from Undertaker. Undertaker grabbed his shoulder, pulled him back and whispered something in his ear. Finny nodded wildly. His eyes widening at every word that was said to him. He saluted to Undertaker and ran off at an amazing speed into the manor.

“My, the young boy seems to like you very much, my dear,” Undertaker said, leaning slightly towards Lailah.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and shook his head. “All the servants have been such a hassle ever since we came home without you that night. Every day they would ask about you.”

“Seems like you’re wanted and well liked her as well, dearie,” Undertaker’s grin grew twice in size.

“Cieeeel!” The high pitched squeal came from just some ways down the road. From the carriage window, popped out Lady Elizabeth who waved frantically at everyone. She jumped from the carriage and sped towards Ciel, giving him a tight, twirling hug. “Ciel! Ciel! I’ve missed you so much and look how cute you are!”

“Lizzie! You can’t just jump out of a moving carriage!” A younger man’s voice drifted from the carriage as it came to a final stop alongside Ciel’s carriage. From out of it, came a young man who was dressed in clothing that matched Lady Elizabeth’s dress colors. She assumed it to be Edward; Elizabeth’s brother.

“Ah, the Midford’s have arrived!” Sebastian clapped his hands together in what seemed to be excitement. “They should have brought along Ms. Hopkins with them.” He turned to Lailah with a big, devilish smile. “She’ll definitely like you.”

Lailah’s grin faded into a scowl. “And what is that supposed to mean, butler?”

“Ah! Young Earl!” From the carriage came a woman who looked to be the same age as Lailah... physically anyway. She jogged over to Ciel with her suitcase banging away on her thighs. “Thank you for inviting me to this ball of yours tonight along with allowing me to make your new maid some new uniforms!”

“Ah! Ms. Hopkins!” Sebastian received a death glare that could easily kill a shinigami from the woman. “So glad you could make it! You will be fitting Ms. Lailah for some new uniforms today!” He pointed over to Lailah who gave a slight curtsey.

“It’s wonderful to meet you Ms. Hop- Eh?!” Ms. Hopkins had completely ignored Lailah’s words and was now studying her breasts in Mey-rin’s uniform.

“Oh my!” Ms. Hopkins grabbed at fabric with a finger and pulled it away from Lailah’s chest. “What a scrumptious maid you are.”

Lailah’s face ran dark red. She squealed and jumped on to Undertaker who made an ‘oomph’ sound as she landed, but had really no trouble carrying her. Her legs went around his waist. Her arms around his neck and she popped her head over his hat. “Do not touch me like that! Do not touch me in that manner!”

Ms. Hopkins chuckled, but then frowned at the fact that she now had to deal with a man standing between her and Lailah. “But your chest is now all squished up on that man’s neck and dare I say apart of his face!”

Undertaker chuckled and waved his fingers at the lady. “She must feel rather safe against her partner rather than at a stranger’s fingers, heehee.”

Ms. Hopkins fumed at that, but said no more. “Well, my order’s from the young Earl are to make her some new uniforms. If you would ever be so kind as to hand her over, I can start with those.”

Undertaker kept on chuckling, and she could have sworn she heard Sebastian chime in even if it was just for a moment. Lailah glared at Sebastian, but obeyed and got off Undertaker, joining Ms. Hopkins to her servant’s quarters.

“Oh oh! I want to make sure that the maid uniform is super cute!” Lizzie yelled from behind and eventually caught up to them with a screaming brother staying behind.

“Now!” Ms. Hopkins closed Lailah’s door behind Elizabeth, making sure to lock it. “I could always make you the same uniform as Mey-rin’s, but the head maid should always look different from the other maids!”

“Head…. maid?” Lailah blinked at the words from the tailor’s mouth. Why would the young Earl say that?

“Yes! Yes! The young Earl had told me that you were the head maid!” Ms. Hopkins put her hands under Lailah’s arms and hoisted her up on to a stool. “You’re quite short and I’m assuming that you wear such high heeled boots because you’re even shorter without them?”

Lailah nodded in agreement.

“Then we’ll leave your boots on for the fitting. Now, take off your clothes!”

“What!?”

“I have to get accurate measurements!” Nina snapped and motioned for Lizzie to turn away. “I take my job seriously so you don’t have to worry about me touching you!”

Lailah frowned, but obeyed, taking off everything but her pants and boots. Nina Hopkins didn’t touch her anymore while she was naked and the reaper was thankful. She liked women sexually, but having a stranger just touch her like that not something she enjoyed. While Nina was taking measurements and talking through her ideas, Lizzie would give her own ideas in which Nina almost always said no, but she liked the idea of a bow that went around her stomach and tied in the back. It would be huge and according to Lizzie, it would look “oh so cute!”

“I just have to sew it together and you’ll be all good to go for this first one. I can make copies of it quick. The copies will be done in the morning.” Nina said and grabbed needle and thread and started to work.

Lailah didn’t like how short the uniform was, but she would be wearing her pants underneath. There were ruffles of white fabric everywhere on the dress and apron. Lizzie thought they were adorable so they stayed. Lailah had never worn anything like this before, but it was only for her time at the manor. Once the contract between Ciel and Sebastian was completed, this whole mission would be over with.

Lizzie suddenly grabbed Lailah’s hand and dragged her to where the others would be. “Ciel!” Ciel! Look! Your maid is sooooo cute now!” She dragged her up the stairs towards the drawing room. She pushed open the door and shoved Lailah inside. “Look! Look how cute Ciel!”

Lailah’s face went red again at everyone staring at her. There were a couple more people here than before but no one that seemed like a government official. Lailah’s eyes darted to Undertaker’s face. Undertaker had already taken off his outer coat and removed his original hat for a regular top hat that he had brought. He was all giggly and smiling, but his forearm covered most of his face. _‘Is he blushing?’_ Lailah blinked and the color of her face darkened more at the thought of him blushing because of her.

“The ruffles and big bow in the back were my ideas!” Lizzie squealed, turning Lailah around to show the bow in the back. “Isn’t it cute?”

“Very cute, Lizzie,” Ciel nodded, not really caring, but still commented to please her.

“My, my! I think it’s quite adorable, heehee,” Undertaker said, calming his giggling down.

“What do you think, Ran-mao?” Another man, sitting on the couch with a woman on his lap, said, picking up the woman’s chin and examining her face.

_‘That must be Lau then….’_

Ran-mao nodded in approval. “Cute.”

Two other men, who she didn’t know and didn’t want to know, nodded and also agreed that it was cute. Edward sighed and decided to not answer at all. Lizzie didn’t mind. All of the important people had gave their approval.

“Mmm, yes. It looks like our special guest has arrived.” Sebastian announced, peering out the window. “Lailah, please take the tea down to the dining room?”

Lailah took the teapot and followed everyone else down the stairs. Mey-rin had ran from the kitchen to get the door. An older gentleman greeted her and stepped into the manor, looking surprised at how big it was.

“Ah, Mr. Fredrick. Welcome to the Phantomhive manor. We were just heading into the dining room for dinner.” Ciel greeted.

“I’m very honored to be a guest at the famous Phantomhive estate!” The official exclaimed. We heard a cough from the doorway, but the person was out of sight. Mr. Fredrick smiled weakly and cleared his throat. “Ah! I’m so very sorry! Where are my manners? I’d like you to meet my wife. I hope it was okay to bring her along without telling you.”

As soon as his wife stepped into the manor, the teapot fell from Lailah’s hands and shattered on the floor. Lailah eyes widened in disbelief, and she stood frozen in place. The tea was running along the cracks of the floorboards and some of it had splashed on to her boots and pants.

_‘How did she find me?’_ Lailah could have screamed, but her vocal cords weren’t cooperating. _‘How did Alice find me?’_


	15. Chapter 15

“Dearie?”

Lailah’s eyes darted to the side. Undertaker was gently shaking her shoulder with a look of worry on his half face. Lailah closed and opened her fingers slowly; trying to get it together. Inhaling through her nose and out through her mouth. It wasn’t helping. She was in full panic mode. She couldn’t let everyone see her this way.

“Dearie, are you okay?” Undertaker whispered, squeezing her shoulder a bit tighter.

“Oh, I… I’m fine. I just… uhm….” She looked down at the shattered teapot, then to everyone else. They were staring. Oh gosh, they were staring. “I-I’ll get to cleaning this up. My deepest apologize, young master.”

“Do it quickly, Lailah.” Sebastian demanded as he ushered everyone into the dining room. “You have to help serve dinner.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Undertaker asked again.

Lailah nodded. “Go with the other guests. I promise I’m fine.”

She could tell by his aura that he wasn’t convinced, but none the less, he went into the dining room with everyone else. She rushed to get a mop and a broom to clean up the mess that she had made, and went down into her quarters to calm herself down. She had to be up to help serve dinner. She had better make it quick.

All of Nina’s things had been cleaned up and were nowhere to be seen. Thank goodness. She didn’t want Nina to experience her meltdown. However, there was a suitcase that she hadn’t noticed before and upon examination, she concluded that it was Ankou’s. Ah. That must have been what he had whispered in Finny’s ear. If anyone else had heard, they would not have liked the idea of a guest rooming with a servant.

“Lailah!”

“Shit.” She hissed. It was Sebastian. She had either taken too long, or he had followed her down to her quarters. This wasn’t what she wanted. She couldn’t handle this. “I-I’m coming! Hold on!” She ran to her bathroom, and splashed freezing cold water on to her face. Didn’t help, but the redness in her face from the panic washed away. She ran back and opened the door with a smile and a wet face. “I’m sorry I had to clean myself up.”

“Dinner is ready to be served and everyone is waiting on you to help me. Please, come.” He gestured harshly for her to follow and she did. He grabbed the trays from the kitchen and they both went into the dining room with smiles on their faces. Although, they were both highly forced.

Lailah took three trays on one arm and a fourth tray in the other hand and went down the line while Sebastian went down the other side of the table. The food looked absolutely delicious. Her hunger had overtaken her feeling of anxiety. That was, until she was the one to serve Alice her food.

“Meet us out in the back tonight when everyone is asleep. Make sure you are alone.” Alice whispered ever so quietly that even Lailah could barely hear her. “You’ll know the signal.”

Lailah hummed in response and set her plate down in front of her. She backed away from the guests and went to Sebastian’s side who was eyeing her and Alice. Had he heard Alice speak? No. He couldn’t have. Even demons didn’t have that good of hearing.

With everyone set and eating, Sebastian allowed Lailah to go into the kitchen and have her own meal. It wasn’t much and it certainly wasn’t what the guests had out there, but it was good enough. She ate quickly and came back to help Sebastian with the rest of the meal. Lizzie was blabbering away at how amazing the ball after dinner was going to be. She was going to dance with Ciel, and she wanted everyone to dance with them.

“You’ll have to tell me your relationship is with Alice once they leave tomorrow,” Sebastian murmured to Lailah.  

“Heh, like you’ll get _that_ out of me, butler.”

“Alright. Seems like everyone is done eating.” Ciel broke up the spatter of words from behind him and rose out of his chair. “Shall we head to the main entrance way for our ball?”

“It’s time for the ball!” Lizzie grabbed Ciel’s arm and ran out the room to the entrance way.

“If you can all follow suit,” Sebastian motioned for everyone to follow Lizzie out the door. Even Lailah who was practically pushed out.

The entrance way had been decorated with bows, ribbons, a table with drinks, gems up the wazoo, and on top of the steps was Sebastian with a violin. _‘Show off,’_ Lailah sniffed as he started to play. Lizzie and Ciel were the first ones to start dancing, of course. Then, Lau and Ran-mao. Mr. Fredrick tried to take Alice on to the dance floor, but she was too interested in Sebastian, so he left her side and took Mey-rin out to dance.

“May I have this dance, dearie?” Undertaker, with a slight bow and his hand out, asked Lailah.

Lailah grinned and took his hand. He twirled her on to the dance floor and then put her hand securely on the small of her back. Her own hand went to his shoulder and they started to sway and get into pace with the others. Eventually, the hand around her back held tighter, making it so that she was pushed up against him.

“Are you enjoying yourself, love?”

She nodded with that same smile on her face as before. “Very much so.”

Undertaker’s face came closer to hers. “I’ll be staying with you tonight, my dear.” His voice was low, quiet, and warm, and gave her a tingling sensation crawling up and down her spine. “I enjoy holding you in my arms while we both sleep.”

Lailah’s cheeks grew hot, and she glanced away from his face. “I enjoy waking up knowing that you’re there….” Her eyes suddenly darted and locked on to Alice’s. She was dancing with another man, but very slowly and they were only swaying side to side. The heat in her cheeks disappeared and she suddenly grew angry.

Undertaker could see this change. She had tensed up. Her face went pale and her eyes flashed brightly. He twirled her once to get her attention back on him. “Dearie… is there something wrong?”

Lailah quickly shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“I can tell when you’re lying.” He said it in such a serious manner that she was taken aback a bit.

She blinked, shaking her head again more slowly this time. “It’s… not something I want to talk about… now right now anyway.”

Undertaker’s faced relaxed and he pulled her in closer. “Alright, love. When you’re ready.” A sudden smile appeared on his face and they continued to dance until it was finally time for them to all retire. Well, Lizzie and Ciel anyway. Undertaker and Lailah snuck away from the rest of the guests who were still enjoying the music and dancing.

Lailah locked her room door and fell face first on to her bed. “My feet….” She groaned, pushing off her boots. “I can fight for hours in these, but dancing is something else.”

Ankou sat down beside her and ran his nails up and down her spine. “Why do you wear such high heels?”

“Well….” She rolled over and sat up, swinging her legs back and forth. “I am… short… really short, so I like how tall the heels make me.” She stood and grabbed a boot, flipping it over to the heel and pushing a button inside the boot. Out came a small knife, making Lailah grin. “Besides, it’s a good hiding place for more weapons.”

Undertaker laughed at how happy she looked explaining her hide away knife. He took off his top hat and tossed it on to the lonely chair in the corner. “The more I find out about you, the more interested I become.” He pushed back his bangs, and she immediately melted.  

She put her boot back on the floor and sauntered over to Ankou, straddling his lap and draping her arms around his neck. “What else do you want to know about me, Ankou?”

He grabbed her by the waist and flipped her on to her back so that he was on top. Nails ran along her side, up her shoulder and neck and rested on her cheek. “Are you ticklish?”

She frowned and cocked her head in confusion. “What?”

Ankou’s face brightened and his hands went back to her sides, starting to lightly push the area of her ribcage. Her eyes widened, and immediately started to laugh. She bucked underneath him and tried pushing his hands away from her sides and eventually, trying to push him completely off her.

“S-s-stop! S-stop!” She begged, finding it difficult to continue breathing.

“Ah, but your laugh is such a drug to me! I’ve found my utopia in it!” He laughed along with her, eventually slowing his prods and kissing her deeply on the lips. “I’ll have to do this more often if I want to hear you laugh.”

Lailah smirked with a sigh and motioned for him to get off. “I have to get some rest. I’ll try not to wake you up in the morning since I have to wake up to prepare breakfast with Sebastian.”

Undertaker nodded and got himself ready for bed; stripping off everything and putting on some pajama pants. Plain, black, pajama pants. She did the same except pulled over a night dress and hopped into bed, ready to cuddle up next to him. He got in next to her and immediately wrapped his arms around her with a sigh.

“Ankou-“ She looked up into his eyes and stared for a moment; contemplating on whether or not to say it or if it was even true what she felt for him.

“What is it, love? Something on your mind?”

She blinked and shook her head. “Mmm, have a good night’s rest.”

* * *

Lailah was only able to get a few hours of sleep until a ringing sound in her ears awakened her. The ringing quickly turned into singing. It was low at first, but as the song progressed, it turned into a high pitch screech which only angels could make and hear. She whined a bit, not wanting to get up from Ankou’s arms, but the longer she lay, the longer that high pitched tone was sung.

It was time.

Lailah slipped out from under his arms and got dressed in her reaper outfit; making sure to put on her rain boots that had been given to her by Mey-rin. She made sure to take her cloak, even though it would drag on the ground and get dirty with mud. She put her glasses on and made her way to the door when Undertaker snorted gently.

“Mmm? Where are you going?” He asked, rubbing his eyes.

She hadn’t thought things through. She needed to come up with something fast. “Sebastian wanted me to check up on the guests after a few hours during the night.”

“He did?” Undertaker yawned and sat up in bed. “Just come back quickly. A reaper needs sleep unlike most otherworldly creatures.”

Lailah nodded and headed out the door. Undertaker sighed, waiting for her footsteps to disappear, and then got dressed himself. “You aren’t a very good liar, my love.”

She ducked out of the manor via the kitchen exit and headed for the very back of the estate. It had been raining the whole time she was asleep. It wasn’t anymore, but there was still some lightning and thunder making it known that the rain would come back at any time now. With each step into the mud, she sunk down and there would be a plop sound when the foot would be picked back up. She was thankful that she had thought to wear these instead of her heeled boots. Although, she didn’t like how short she was now.

“It took you long enough, Lailah.”

She gulped. All four of them were there. Alice, Arthur, Ara, and Aaron. They stood next to each other with soft, inviting faces. Lailah’s face softened, then became hard with anger; glaring at the four.

“Lailah, Lailah,” Alice shook her head. “What’s with that face? We’re your friends. You should be happy to see us just as we’re happy to see you.”

“Tch.” Lailah sneered. “Friends? Really? You think that I consider you my friends after all you’ve put me through?”

“Oh Lailah,” Arthur chimed in. “We knew we were going to fall and leave you all alone. We didn’t want you to be alone.”

“I’ve always felt alone. What made you think that it would be any better if I fell with you?” Thunder cracked loudly overhead warning them that they would be drenched soon. “Why are you here? Why have you tracked me down?”

Aaron stepped forward and opened his arms to her. “Come back to us. We want you with us. With your own kind.”

“I’m not an angel and I never will be.”

“We love you, Lailah.” Ara replied.

Lailah couldn’t help but laugh. “Really? You love me? You _love_ me! You had a demon force himself on me making me fall and you all love me? You all think we’re friends?”

“My, my, what is this here?”

Lailah whipped around and mentally cursed herself. Sebastian had his hand on his chin with his head cocked, evaluating the current situation. Ciel was dressed in his pajamas with a stern face, leaning on to his cane and Undertaker had his creepy smile on his lips with his fingers interlaced with each other. She cursed herself mentally again. The four would not be happy. Especially since there was a demon and another reaper present and intervening in angel affairs.

“Why… _why_ are you three here?” Lailah asked with a growl.

“It’s not right for a Phantomhive maid to sneak out after dark without telling her superior,” Sebastian said. “ _Specially_ to meet angels who tend to wreak havoc in the human realm.”

Lailah sighed. “I suggest you go back inside so that I can deal with this. There is no need for you three to worry. I’m not-.”

There was a snap just by her ear which made her lose focus on what she was going to say. She turned back to the angels who were now grimacing. The feathers on their wings all shaking with pure rage. Alice was the only one calm enough to speak as she rolled up her whip that had just cracked in Lailah’s ear.

“What a naughty, naughty, angel you are, Lailah,” Alice said. “Bringing humans and other worldly creatures to an angelic meeting like this. My, you think you can just dominate us like that? Well, it seems as though I’ll have to whip you into submission.”

Another thunder crack and Lailah stared straight up towards the heavens. Feeling drops begin to pour down from them, she pulled her cloak off and slowly made her way over to Ciel. She threw it over him, and while fastening the hooks, she started, “You know how much of a masochist I can be, Alice, and you know I’d love to be whipped into submission.” The hooks were fastened and she stood up with a broad smile upon her face, staring at the group of angels. “But, could I ask you not to say such nasty things around the young master?”

“Don’t patronize me!” Alice screamed and sent the whip straight at Lailah’s face.

But it didn’t snap.

Lailah caught the end of the whip and proceeded to wrap it around her hand, tightening it. “I also prefer to be whipped by my partner. Not you.” She tightened it a bit more and then flung the whip to the right, also whipping the angel at the other end into a tree.

A long flame appeared in front of Lailah and once the flames were exhausted, there stood her death scythe. She grabbed it and bolted to the other three who had summoned their angelic weapons; an axe for Aaron, a bow and arrows for Arthur, and a mace for Ara while Alice had her whip. Arthur fired multiple arrows at Lailah, which she deflected with the blades on each end of her scythe. Ara flew up and sent feathers blazing towards Lailah. She stopped, brought her wings and wrapped them around herself to deflect the feathers.

“Your wings might be big,” Ara said. “But bigger doesn’t mean better. Mine are more satisfying~”

Lailah put her wings away and shuddered. “Can you please stop making everything so sexual?” Her eyes darted and she jumped out of the way of Aaron’s axe that came down and into the mud it went. She brought her scythe over her shoulder like a bat, and smashed the flat side of the blade into Aaron’s head, sending him flying. There was an oddly small amount of blood left on her blade.

“You bitch!” Ara screamed and came down at her with her mace over her head.

Lailah grinned and turned, bringing the length of her scythe up to meet the mace dead on. Ara’s shrill screaming kept coming, but no matter her strength, she couldn’t break the scythe, nor could she get Lailah to move.

“Did you really think that your angelic weapons could actually break my death scythe?” Lailah Stepped forward and thrusted her scythe into Ara. More arrows came at her which she again, deflected with her blades. She suddenly felt a snap and around her arm was Alice’s whip.

“Oh Lailah… Lailah, Lailah-,“ Alice pulled on the whip, forcing an agonizing gasp from the reaper. “Don’t you want to know who actually sent that demon after you?”

Lailah’s eyes snapped wider and a scowl formed on her face. “What did you just say?”

“We weren’t the ones to send the demon after you,” Alice repeated and again tightened the whip around Lailah’s arm. “We were only ordered to bring you down to the human realm. That was all.”

Lailah’s eyes narrowed and with a single swing of her scythe, cut the whip away from her arm, making Alice shriek in horror that her precious whip was now ruined. “You are at as much fault as the actual person who sent that demon!” An arrow came flying at her from the other direction and Lailah sliced it in half with her scythe.

Another angel? There was another angel that had been a somewhat leader to these four? Where was that angel now? Were they hiding around the manor? Were they watching this situation right now? Or were they far away and hoping that these four would either kill her, or bring her back to them? She wasn’t dying tonight and she sure wasn’t going back with the angels who put her through hell.

“What about your husband, Alice? I’m sure he’s woken and looking for you,” Lailah snapped, bringing her scythe down and into the ground as Alice flew to the side.

“Oh, he was just an illusion, darling! Just an illusion which you and a demon fell for!”

_‘Damn her and her illusions….’_

All four came running at her from different direction with weapons or fists at the ready, but Lailah spun her scythe, stuck it in the ground and put her hands up, stopping them all in their tracks.

“Before this continues,” Lailah smirked and titled her head down. “A song is in order, yes?”

“No-!“

“Oh but I happen to think my voice is beautiful and I want to share it!” She stared at the four whose feathers were now starting to shake. “How about… a pirate song?”

“I’ll kill you before you can even take your first breath for the song!” Aaron charged at her from behind with his axe over his head.

Lailah whipped around and wagged her finger at him with a matching wink. _“The King and his men stole the Queen from her bed and bound her in her bones~”_ Aaron froze in his tracks and so did the other who stood completely still in their spots. _“The seas be ours and by the powers where we will we’ll roam~”_

The angels all started to suddenly hold their heads and groan in agonizing pain. Their weapons vanished, not being able to concentrate on them being kept in this realm.

“Oh my, my little birdie is _very_ interesting,” Undertaker grinned, cocking his head to the side and leaning on one leg.

Sebastian! What’s happening?” Ciel asked, eyes wide with fear and curiosity at the scene before him.

 Sebastian rubbed his chin, smirked, and nodded in agreement to himself. “Her voice is… _intoxicating_.”

_"Yo ho, all hands. Hoist the colors high~”_ Lailah continued, going around to each of the angels and so they could all hear her beautiful voice.  They started to crumble and scream. Ears were bleeding and feathers started to fall from their wings. _“Heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die~”_

“That’s enough!” Alice screeched, and flew up high and away from the manor as fast as she could. The others did the same. More slowly than her. They were all weaker and lower ranking than Alice.  Eventually, Lailah stopped her singing and watched as their shadows disappeared into the rain filled sky.

“My, my,” Undertaker tapped his teeth with a nail. “I didn’t know you were the Demon’s Songstress, my dear.”

Lailah whipped her head towards him; eyes wide and then relaxed. “I haven’t heard that name in ages.”

“What’s the Demon’s Songstress?” Ciel asked, looking up at Sebastian for an answer.

Lailah took out a little box, cigarettes, and popped one in her mouth, setting the end ablaze with her hands.

“The Demon’s Songstress is a creature whose voice is so intoxicating that it’s basically like mind control.” Sebastian answer and then went back to Lailah with a frown. “I didn’t know you smoked.”

Lailah took the cigarette from her mouth and blew out the smoke. “Only after I sing. It takes the edge of the side effects.”

“I’m still confused,” Ciel hummed. “We heard her song. Why didn’t we end up effected? And what side effects?”

Lailah puffed on the cigarette again. “I can target certain people. You probably would have died if I targeted you, young master.” She felt a liquid oozing from her nose. She lightly touched it with the non-cigarette holding hand- blood. She felt woozy. Majorly woozy. She slumped to her knees with ragged breathing. Her cigarette falling from her hand. “This… this is the side effect… of my singing.” She toppled over, but instead of falling straight into mud, Undertaker had rushed over to her and caught her before she landed.

Undertaker gently ran the back of his hand against her cheek, then felt her forehead. “She’s just unconscious. We should let her sleep, heehee.”

“Sebastian, bring her-“

“No, no. No need to make your butler do it,” Undertaker put his arms under Lailah and hoisted her up against his chest. He blew some hair from her face and smiled down upon her. “I can take care of my little birdie.”


	16. Chapter 16

“It was as she said- an illusion.” Sebastian said, coming into the drawing room as the others, Ciel, Undertaker and Lailah, all sat waiting for him to return. “Once I went into the room this morning, the official disappeared into thin air while he was getting up out of bed.”

All the guests had woken up and enjoyed a specially made breakfast. Most of them went home after except for Undertaker, Lizzie and Edward. Ms. Hopkins had been given a ride back to her storefront by Lau. She contested at first but once Ran-mao held her arm tight, she agreed to join them. Lizzie had a sort of tea party during brunch time tea making Undertaker wear all sorts of pink and purple ribbons in his hair and robe. He didn’t mind just made a deal with her to not touch his bangs and she agreed.

That was all over now. Lizzie and Edward had gone home right before Lunch and they had made their way into the drawing room for some lunch and to talk about the events last night.

Lailah had stirred from her slumber at a pretty early time. Undertaker, however, didn’t look like he had gotten much sleep. He had been watching over her all night, making sure that there were no other side effects that showed. She had told him that he shouldn’t have worried. In response, he had told her that a partner should always take care of the other no matter what. Even if it means there would be no sleep.

“Now that they know about Sebastian, I doubt that they’ll actually try something like that again,” Lailah said. “They’re weaklings compared to him. They wouldn’t subject themselves to that unless they had to.”

“Lailah,” Ciel crossed a leg over the other and leaned his head on his fist. “Could you tell me more about this Demon’s songstress power?”

She nodded. “Would you like to know anything specific?”

Ciel closed his eyes in thought. “Well, why are you called a Demon’s Songstress if you aren’t a demon… Nowhere near a demon in fact.”

“It’s just because of what my voice does to others,” She said. “It’s so intoxicating that if you listen to my full song, there’s a high chance that you’ll die. Although, I never met anyone that had lived after listening fully to my song.”

“Can you sing different song and it still has the same effect?” Sebastian asked.

Lailah nodded again. “Any song that I sing can be used with the Demon Songstress’ power. Obviously, I don’t have to use the power whenever I sing. I can control it _that_ much at least.”

“ _Hmmm?”_ Undertaker tapped his nails on his arm rest. “What do you mean by that, dearie? Are you perhaps talking about the side effects?”

“Mmm, that I am.” Lailah tried to pick up a smile and waved her hand at the now concerned Undertaker. “It’s nothing really. You shouldn’t be worrying about the side effects.”

“Do you have those side effects because you’re hearing your own song?” Sebastian asked, opening the curtains to get some natural light in the room.

“Yes. When I am singing, I am technically targeting myself along with the other targets,” Lailah explained. “Given, I cannot die from my own power, I do suffer the same effects as the other targets after I have ended. However, I have found that cigarettes make some of the side effects disappear like the extreme head pain, the bleeding of the ears and eyes.” She rubbed her fingers together. “I don’t know what it is about them. The smoke. The smell. The taste. I am not quite sure, but they work.”

“Just don’t make it a habit.” Ciel waved his hand at her. “Now, I think we need to talk about-“

“I’m not talking about what I said as you arrived last night.” Lailah snapped, staring at a spot on the floor. “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t need to talk about it. You don’t need to know about it.”

Sebastian side stepped behind Ciel’s chair and made his way behind Lailah’s, bending down so that his face was at level with her ear. “It’s the reason why you wake up at night screaming and crying, hm? It’s the reason why when I touch you, ever so slightly, you flinch, hm? It’s the reason why most mornings, you look exhausted, hm?”

Lailah kept quiet, still staring at the spot on the floor. He was right of course and they all knew it. She shifted her legs so that the right was over the left and glanced at Sebastian’s face. “It’s the reason why I fell in the first place… No one cares if it was forced upon you. Once you have relations of any kind with a demon, you fall.”

“What was his name?” Sebastian asked.

Lailah snorted a laugh and covered her face. “What are you going to do with that information? It’s unnecessary for you to know.”

“I agree. What are you going to do with that information, butler? Heehee~” Undertaker leaned toward them with a smile. “Besides, I think you have to worry about the other angels.”

Ciel nodded. “Undertaker is right. There were four of them last night, but they said something about a fifth one.”

Lailah shook her head and shrugged. “Those four can’t really do anything for themselves. I’m actually quite surprised at myself that I never actually thought that there was a fifth angel with them, but unfortunately I have no idea who would be running the show.”

“Do you think they’ll come back again?” Ciel asked.

“Well, now that they know that there is a demon here, I don’t think they would actually try a stunt like last night’s again. They might come back, but they’ll most likely sneak in instead.”

Ciel stretched his arms and sat back. “Well, if they only want you, then I don’t really think we have to worry about things.”

Lailah and Sebastian frowned while Undertaker put a neutral face on. Sebastian stepped out from behind Lailah’s chair to explain. “Young master, you don’t understand what it means for London to have five fallen angels living in it, do you?”

“Hm? Well, I suppose not. Explain then.”

“I’m not their main target. I’m assuming they don’t really want to kill me,” Lailah said. “I’m pretty sure they want to, uh…. recruit me I suppose. That’s why they and the other angel, made me fall in the first place.”

“They… want to recruit you?” Ciel eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Young master, Lailah’s different from most fallen angels,” Sebastian said. “Fallen angels want to ‘purify’ humans.”

“Purify?”

“I’m assuming they want to kill them, yes?” Undertaker tapped his finger nails together in thought and nodded with his answer. “Yes. Purify meaning wipe out the human race.”

Lailah and Sebastian both nodded at him and said at once, “They want to basically destroy the human realm.”

Lailah sat back, put her hands flat together and breathed in deeply. “I wonder where the doves will lay their eggs next.” She suddenly stood up and started towards the door.

“Where are you going, my dear?” Undertaker asked.

Lailah opened the door and whipped a smile at the three of them. “Getting some early afternoon tea ready. I think we all need some.”

Ciel nodded and Lailah closed the door behind her. No, she wasn’t going anywhere else. She was actually going to get some tea ready for them all. Usually the demon would do it, but Ciel had ordered for the both of them to switch on and off with the tea making. Lailah was a little too good at learning and would show it off by making the Earl say that something she made was better than Sebastian’s. She made sure not to do it too often. Sebastian was a demon after all and she honestly thought that he would kill her if he got too jealous.

No one was in the kitchen when she entered. Good. No one to ask questions or make unnecessary comments. She pulled a tea pot from the shelves and started with boiling the water. It took unusually long for the water to boil, but she didn’t think anything of it. She first put the tea leaves, one for each person and then one extra, then, she put just a small cube of sugar. That was her secret. She doubted even Sebastian knew that she was sneaking sugar to Ciel when she wasn’t supposed to. Last she put the boiling water in and closed the pot.

Lailah’s eyes snapped wide and quickly grabbed a knife and flung it towards the doorway where Arthur had entered. The knife just missed his neck and stuck into the door. Arthur grinned and wagged his finger at her. She was about to scream for one of the servants, but her mouth had sudden been covered by a rag. She felt woozy, but then slumped into Aaron’s arms.

Meanwhile, Undertaker and Ciel had started playing a game of chess. Undertaker was surprisingly winning. Sebastian was quite impressed. No one had beaten Ciel at a game before. Sebastian took out his pocket watch and sighed with a matching frown.

“It shouldn’t take this long to make tea.”

“She probably got caught up with something. Maybe Mey-rin broke something again and she helped clean it,” Ciel said as he frowned at Undertaker’s winning move.

“ _Checkmate_.”

“Mr. Sebastian! Mr. Sebastian!” Mey-rin stormed into the drawing room looking rather disorganized. She fixed her hair and glasses, bowed her head to Ciel and Undertaker, then grabbed at Sebastian’s coat. “Ms. Lailah is gone!”

“What?” Ciel and Undertaker popped up from their chairs; all attention was now on Mey-rin.

“It’s true, yes! I saw her go into the kitchen, yes, yes. Then about twenty minutes later, I heard a ruckus come from the kitchen, but it was short so I thought nothing of it!” Mey-rin explained. “B-b-but she didn’t come out of the kitchen! So I went to check on her and she was gone and there was a knife stuck in the door along with a cold tea pot on the table and I think some markings from her boots on the floor! The markings look like she’s been dragged out!”

“Let’s go take a look in the kitchen,” Ciel said starting towards the kitchen in a rapid pace. “Thank you, Mey-rin.”

Undertaker and Seastian followed right behind and they stormed the kitchen. It was just how Mey-rin said. A knife lodged into the door, a cold teapot, and some markings from her heels, but there was nothing else.

“Do you think it was the angels?” Ciel asked.

“It’s very likely,” Undertaker replied, opening the top of the teapot. His face went sad as his nails picked out a single, white feather from the pot. “More than very likely. Most definitely.”

“Sebastian! This is an order!” Ciel stomped his foot on the floor and glared at the butler. “Find Lailah and lead us to her!”

Sebastian smiled and bowed low in front of the young Earl, “Yes, my Lord.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for violence and language.

Lailah stirred from her slumber and tried to roll over from her stomach, but something was keeping her there. There was a sharp, tightness around her wrists and when she pulled, was only able to pull them slightly apart. She was on her knees, but couldn’t even attempt to get up because of something around her thighs keeping her there. Her skirt and pants were still on her body, but she was bare from the waist up. She whined, opening her eyes to a bright lamp stuck in her face.

“Ah, you’re awake.”

Lailah snarled at the voice and started banging whatever she could. Her hands thrashed against the metal stand that she was bending over. Her stomach bounced on top. She threw out her wings and started thrashing them as well, but she grew tired easily and halted her thrashing about.

“What a naughty angel you are. truly.”

“Where am I? Why am I here? What are you going to do?”

The lamp moved and Ara’s smiling face came into her view. “Oh, don’t worry about all that stuff. You’re among friends. Your real friends.”

Lailah gathered up some saliva in her mouth and spit in Ara’s face who then screeched and fall backwards.

“You little shit-!

“Come now, Ara. There is no need to get your feathers ruffled.”

A hand- Alice’s hand- helped Ara up and then moved to under Lailah’s chin. Her face came close and Alice kissed Lailah’s cheek. “We’re going to brand you.”

“…Brand me? Why? What do you mean?”

Alice giggled. She stood up and ran her hand down Lailah’s exposed back until she reached the middle. “You keep forgetting that you’re an angel, Lailah. You keep forgetting that you are one of us. You keep forgetting you fell. You keep forgetting _why_ you fell.” She bent down and kissed the small of Lailah’s back. “We’re going to brand you to make sure that you don’t ever forget that.”

Lailah cocked an eyebrow. “Uh, I still don’t know what-,” _‘Branding… oh god.’_

Lailah started to thrash once more, figuring out just how they were going to brand her. Her wings were held down harshly by two of the angels. Alice telling Ara to get a move on. A chain was suddenly strapped around her lower back and around the table; holding her tightly in place.

“Get the syringe before she starts singing!” Alice growled at the other three. “And hurry! I can assure you that that demon and the other two are on their way!”

_‘Sebastian…. Undertaker…. Ciel…. They’re actually coming for me?’_ Lailah perked up and that gave her another dose of energy. She thrashed as much as she could until something – a thick needle – was thrusted into her neck and she could feel a warm liquid oozing into her. Her thrashing stopped abruptly. Her breathing slowed. Her pupils dilated and her mouth hung open with a bit of drool making its way out.

“Lailah?” Arthur let go of her wing which fell to the side and gently shook her. “Lailah?”

A few giggles erupted from the four and they started the readying for the branding. They cleaned her backside with alcohol and the knives. They had taken her to an old funeral home that had been closed down due to Undertaker’s funeral parlor. Lailah hadn’t realized where she was since she couldn’t move her head around to get a good look, but it wasn’t as though she would know the place.

Alice bent down so that Lailah could see her and patted the top of her back. “We’re going to start. Don’t worry. It’ll hurt… a lot but we will try to go as fast as possible.”

And so it started.

The knife came down into the middle of back and sliced downwards.

_‘It hurts.’_ But she couldn’t do anything.

Another deep slice, although this time, the knife curved as it sliced downwards.

_‘Stop! It hurts!’_ She couldn’t even scream. Her muscles. Her vocal cords. Every inch of her body was paralyzed, but she still felt everything that they were doing to her.

Another few slices and the first word was complete. She could feel the warm blood seeping from the slices in her back. If she concentrated hard enough, she could tell that the word that they had cut into her was “Demon”.

And it started again.

_‘Ankou… please.’_

F.

_‘Where are you?’_

U.

_‘It hurts, Ankou…. It hurts!’_

C.

_‘Save me….’_

K.

_‘…Maybe they won’t come…. Maybe I’m not worth saving.’_

E.

_‘Maybe I am useless after all.’_

R.

_‘Useless….’_

Alice frowned and let out a snarl. “They’re here. Leave the knives. We’re done anyway. Let’s go before that demon attempts to tear us apart.” They all nodded and crashed through the windows; flying away into dusk.

Lailah could only stay there. Bleeding out from her wounds. She still had no control over her body and her mind was now going as well. She was basically a doll that could breathe. That was all.

Sebastian was the first one through the door; surveying the location before letting Undertaker and Ciel in. Undertaker, however, pushed through the door and immediately was at Lailah’s face. Cupping it with gentle hands he stared at her. He checked her temperature, heart rate, and breathing and all were a little below normal but nothing drastic.

“Oh dear me,” Sebastian murmured, examining the carving on her back. “That’s certainly a way to put it.”

“Butler, examine every part of her body. Make sure that there is no other wounds that we should worry about,” Undertaker ordered and immediately went to work searching the cupboards and drawers for towels of any kind and liquids that could clean the wounds. “My lord, please step away from Lailah. I need to work quickly to stop the bleeding-“

“Hm? There’s something on her neck,” Sebastian said, arching her neck slightly to show Undertaker.

Undertaker’s nail glided over the incision and then his attention went back to the cupboards. “Find the needle that was in her. Quickly, butler.”

“I’ve never seen you so demanding, Undertaker,” Ciel grinned, leaning against the doorway. “It’s a nice change of pace.”

Undertaker gave a laugh and then grew serious again. He found a few towels and liquids that he could use. It was just enough to stop the bleeding even if it was just for a while. He pulled a stool up to Lailah’s back and began working.

“I’m sorry, dearie, but this will hurt.”

“I’m afraid she won’t be responsive for quite a while, Undertaker,” Sebastian said, holding up the syringe that had been plunged into her neck. “By the smell and taste of it, the liquid that was put inside seems to have been a mixture of nightshade and absinthe.”

“Can you tell me about how much?”

“About half the syringe.”

Undertaker wiped away the excess blood, finished up his work, and laid his outer coat over her. “The poor birdie.…We better keep a watch on her throughout the night.” Undertaker tapped his teeth with a nail. “There must be a key for her chains somewhere.”

“We need to get out of here,” Ciel said, pushing up from the doorway. “Sebastian, break the chains. Whatever you can’t break from her, we will deal with back at the manor.”

“Of course, young master.” Sebastian broke away at the chains confining her to the table and Undertaker quickly wrapped the extra part of his coat under her so that she wasn’t exposed, and lifted her into his arms.

“Quickly. Let’s get her back.”

The ride was bumpy since they were going faster than what most carriages were supposed to move. Undertaker had sat Lailah on his lap and wrapped his arms protectively around her. Every now and then he would whisper in her ear sweet nothings; hoping that she would wake up from her spell or be able to actually hear them and understand. But she never moved. She was as limp as a rag doll and her mind as empty as a coconut.

Once at the manor, they all rushed to her quarters and gently laid her down on the bed. Undertaker shooed Sebastian and the Earl out so that he could dress her wounds and her properly. Sebastian brought him wraps and closed the door to allow him to get to work. Once done, he had opened the door back up and sat by her side on the bed; bangs still covering his face.

“Dearie…,” Undertaker sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. Her eyes were closed gently and he had to make sure that she was still breathing. “I hope you have a good night’s rest… no nightmares… no sudden wake ups in the middle of the night… just a peaceful night’s sleep.”

He watched her for a couple of hours until Sebastian came in to take his place.

“I’m fine. I can watch her for another couple of hours,” Undertaker told him, glancing at Lailah’s peaceful face. “I’ve never seen her this peaceful.”

“Please, allow me to watch for the rest of the night. You need your sleep.” Sebastian pulled over the single chair in the room and sat down. “All the guest rooms are prepared so; you can have your pick.”

Undertaker hesitated, looking back at Lailah. He didn’t trust Sebastian, however, if the young Lord had ordered it, Sebastian would have to. Undertaker surrendered and picked the first guest room that he came too. Not to his surprise, he never got an ounce of sleep that night. Worry clouded his mind.

“She needs to get out of here,” He whispered to himself, holding on to the sheets tightly. Not having her in his arms was frustrating. “She needs to be safe… She needs to stay with me. Always.”


	18. Chapter 18

Sebastian sighed and looked at his pocket watch. It was almost time to make the morning tea. He couldn’t leave Lailah’s side though. Not until she either woke up, or Undertaker came down to replace him. Neither of those things were going to happen anytime soon it seemed. Orders were orders, he supposed. The young master would have to wait.

Suddenly, Lailah’s eyes popped open and she sat up rather quickly. Sebastian’s own eyes grew wide and he stood up; about to attempt to have her lay back down. However, she blinked out any sleep from her eyes, and flung her legs over the side of the bed. Sebastian backed away to examine what she would do next.

Lailah made her way into the bath, filled up the tub while she undressed with the door wide open and slipped in only to take a few minutes cleaning herself. She got out, threw her maid uniform on and made her way up to the kitchen to start getting breakfast ready.

“Lailah, you should really go back to bed,” Sebastian said, across the table from her.

She didn’t respond. She didn’t even look at him. Could she not hear him, or was she just ignoring him? She finished breakfast and set two meals out on the dining room table, then made her way back into the kitchen to get the tea ready.

_‘She seems to know that Undertaker, or at least someone besides the young master will be having breakfast today,’_ Sebastian hummed to himself as he continued to examine and follow Lailah.

She was able to make her way up the steps with tea pot and cup in hand. As they made their way to the Earl’s room, Sebastian knocked on Undertaker’s door harshly and continued to follow Lailah.

“Oh my, you’re up all by yourself, young master,” Sebastian said, looking at a rather bored Earl.

“Lailah, how are you feeling?” Ciel asked but got no response.

Lailah made her way to the bedside, and poured the tea into the single cup she had brought. It was a messy pour as the hot tea splashed on to the young Lord’s covers.

“Lailah?”

“It seems as though she cannot hear, nor see us. It’s as if she’s some type of robot just going through the motions of a typical day in a maid’s life,” Sebastian told him as Lailah gave Ciel the tea and head back out the door.

“Lailah!” A fully dressed Undertaker flung his arms around Lailah as she was making her way to the stairs. “Oh my dear, you shouldn’t be up and about like this. You’re still recovering.”

No response.

Undertaker frowned and stepped back a bit, still holding her arms. “Dearie?”

But still, no response. Lailah practically bulldozed through Undertaker and made her way down the steps, back into the kitchen where she started cleaning the dishes she had used to make breakfast.

“Come, Undertaker,” Ciel had gotten dressed for the day and was accompanied by Sebastian. “We can talk about her over breakfast.”

Upon entering the dining room, Lailah entered herself and stood in the corner with her hands clasped together and her head down. Undertaker’s attention was completely on her. He sat down and ate ever so slowly.

_‘The drugs should be out of her system by now… What happened?’_ Undertaker frowned slightly. Did Sebastian do something to her to make her this way? He knew he shouldn’t have left her with him. A demon of all other worldly creatures.

“We think this is because of the absinthe drug that she was given yesterday,” Ciel began, finishing up his breakfast meanwhile, Undertaker barely had half of his. “I’m sure you know that it’s a mind altering drug.”

Undertaker nodded. Many of his guests had been killed by overdoses and absinthe was a common one.

“Well, we think that, because it was mixed with nightshade, that her mind is completely blank. There’s nothing up there. It’s as though she is going through the motions.”

Sebastian made his way to her and lifted her chin so that he could see her eyes. “As I thought. Dull. Absolutely no light whatsoever. It’s as though she’s dead, but she’s obviously not… well, she’s not a dead reaper anyway.”

Undertaker pushed away from the table and sat back, tapping his chin with a nail. “Does she respond to anything? I mean, she heard us come in the room so she made her way in herself. She has to respond to somethings.”

Sebastian stood erect and rubbed his chin. “I wonder… Lailah!”

She picked her head up and stared at him, waiting for an order.

“Go fetch me a glass of water immediately!”

She nodded, went into the kitchen, and with a few seconds, was back with a glass of water which she held out for Sebastian to take. He thanked her, took the glass and she made her way back to the corner; standing as before with her hands clasped and her head down.

“Well, she responds to orders at least.” Sebastian said.

“Come. We’ll think this over in the drawing room.” Ciel got up and made his way to the doors. Every one followed except for Lailah who started to make her way into the kitchen, but before she could do so, Ciel turned back and yelled, “This is an order Lailah! Come with us to the drawing room!”

She stopped short, turned, and followed the rest up to the drawing room. Sebastian closed the door behind him. Lailah stood by the fireplace just as she was in the dining room; hands clasped and head down.  Ciel to his rightful spot in his chair with Undertaker on the couch, legs crossed. Sebastian stood by the doorway, staring at Lailah in thought.

“Do you think the drugs are still in her system?” Ciel asked, breaking the silence in the room.

“I doubt it. They should be out by now. They didn’t give her enough for it not to be,” Undertaker replied.

“So, just how do we get her out of this… spell?”

Sebastian grinned and put both hands on his hips. “Do we need to? I quite like when she isn’t bugging me about nonsense or arguing with me about how to do chores around here.”

Undertaker’s expression grew cold. “Tch. I’d like to have my birdie back just to the way she was.”

“I agree. The way she made my tea this morning was not quite the same as she always makes it,” Ciel said. “She’s acting like a maid, yes, but she’s doing a half-hearted job. However, my question is, would it be safe to rip her from this spell, or should we just let it run its course?”

“I’m not sure how long this kind of ‘spell’ would take to run its course,” Undertaker sighed, his expression turning back into his typical neutral one.

“If you would permit me to try, my Lord.” Sebastian nodded, locked the door and took a couple of steps towards Lailah, stopping halfway. “Lailah! Face me!”

She obeyed.

Sebastian glanced at the others who were interested in what he was about to do. He smirked and looked back at Lailah. “I’m sorry. You will hear her scream, cry, and struggle, but you must allow me to run _my_ course until I feel as though she has returned to normal. Understand?”

The two nodded.

Darkness suddenly started to wrap around Lailah. At first, she stayed as she was, but when the darkness enveloped her completely, the struggling began. She was struggling quietly; not wanting this thing to wrap around her anymore. Then, the hallucinations came. It started as a mere whining with a bit more struggling. Then, that whining grew into screams and eventually, shrieks of terror.  

Undertaker stood tall and balled his hands into fists. “Butler!”

“Now now, Undertaker. I have to run my course. You do want your little birdie back, don’t you?” Sebastian grinned with his fangs exposed and Undertaker reluctantly took a seat again.

The thrashing had started. She would get quiet for a few moments and then her screeching would start up again. Sebastian grimaced for a minute, then went to a more neutral face. His darkness wasn’t that tight, but the hallucinations seemed to be so intense that she was choking. Yet, he couldn’t do anything about it. If he stopped now, she wouldn’t be back to normal.

Suddenly, a screech unlike any other escaped from the darkness that enveloped Lailah and she screamed. “Damien!”

Sebastian’s eyes snapped wide. He stopped and let her drop to the ground in pants and huffs; shaking like there was no tomorrow. Undertaker was immediately by her side, but knew touching her was out of the question.

Lailah swiped in the air in front of her. “Don’t touch me!”

“No one is going to touch you, love.”

The gentle, warm voice of Undertaker made her relax a bit. She took a breath and opened her eyes with a little whine. “Undertaker….”

Undertaker chuckled in relief and stuck out his hand for her to take when she was ready. “That’s correct, dearie.”

She moaned and let her head drop again. “My head… it hurts and… and my back feels like it’s burning up.”

“Well, looks like you’re back to normal,” Sebastian sighed, disappointed that she was.

“Back to normal?” She blinked and furrowed her brows in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“Let’s get you up off the floor first and then we will explain,” Undertaker said, his hand practically in her face.

Lailah, with a shaky hand, took his and he hoisted her to her feet. They stood there for a minute, letting her shaky legs get used to standing on their own again, and they made their way to the couch where she plopped herself down with a groan. Undertaker took a seat next to her and poured her some tea.

“What do you remember, Lailah?” Ciel asked, crossing one leg over the other.

She took a sip of the tea and then tapped her chin with a finger. “Mmm.” She sneered at the memory that came. “I remember Arthur and Aaron being in the kitchen when I was making the tea yesterday.”

“I suppose they knocked you out with some sort of gas. There was no blood that I could sense anywhere in that kitchen,” Sebastian said.

Lailah pursed her lips and gave a slight nod. “I guess that was what they used. I’m not sure. Honestly, I don’t even remember being knocked out.” She frowned again. Anger flashed through her eyes. “I remember waking up though. I didn’t know where I was, but I do remember them telling me something about branding. The rest is a blur.”

Sebastian glanced at Ciel. He glanced back and they both glanced at Undertaker who nodded and put his hand on Lailah’s thigh.

“Dearie… Can I check your back?”

Lailah cocked an eyebrow. “Go ahead.”

He leaned her forward just a bit and unbuttoned the top few buttons of her uniform. He ran his finger nails over her bandages and frowned. “I’ll have to stitch you up if you keep bleeding like this.”

“…What do you mean?” Lailah asked, putting a hand on her back to feel the blood soaked bandages. “What… what happened? What did they do to me?”

Everyone fell silent. Undertaker re-buttoned her uniform. Ciel wouldn’t look her in the eye. Sebastian was the only one to finally break the silence. “They branded you with the words, excuse my language, ‘demon fucker’.”

Her eyes went wide and then she started to laugh. She held on to her stomach and leaned forward more than she should have. The pain from her wounds started up, but that only made her laugh harder. Undertaker put his hand on her shoulder with concern on his half exposed face.

Lailah wiped a tear away from her eye and calmed herself. “Well, that’s that I suppose. That’s… that.” An evil looking smile grew and anger flashed in her eyes again. “Heh, they don’t realize that whatever they give will be handed back threefold.”

“Well, you’re not going anywhere in your condition,” Ciel said. “You’re not leaving this manor until your back is healed.”

“My lord, I was actually thinking about that last night,” Undertaker pipped up. “I was thinking that she would be safer at my shop.”

“But then I wouldn’t be able to carry out my mission,” Lailah interjected, motioning to Sebastian and Ciel. “I have to keep watch.”

“I think that’s wise,” Ciel nodded to Undertaker.

“But-.”

“I’m sure the reapers will understand,” Sebastian cut her off. “You may still be a fallen angel, but they still accepted you as a reaper and they are responsible for your safety as much as you are.”

Lailah sighed, but not out of disappointment. Out of relief and happiness. She was going back with Undertaker. She missed his dark, old room. She missed waking up and making breakfast for only him. She missed the one on one time. She missed the privacy that he allowed her to have. She missed everything about living with Undertaker. She was glad. So glad to be going back… even if it had only been a couple of days since she’s come back to the manor.

Undertaker grabbed her and practically dragged her to her quarters. “Come dearie. I need to take care of your bandaging before we leave, and we have to grab some clothes for ye’ too, heehee.”

Undertaker was back to his normal self. There was no concern on his face. No worry lines. No sign of exhaustion. He whipped her on to the bed and wrapped her up in fresh bandages. He then set her suitcase next to her and threw as many outfits as he could fit in and locked it up.

“Someone’s excited,” Lailah chuckled, putting on fresh clothing. “You know, it’s only been a couple of days since we left your shop and you’ve been with me the whole time.”

“Heehee, I know, love.” Undertaker stood right beside her and slid a finger under her chin, bring it up to look at him. “But, I haven’t had you alone for a while. We can’t be together privately here. Even if it feels like we are.”

But he suddenly dropped his finger and the smile that seemed to be plastered on his face and embraced her tightly. Lailah whispered a tiny yelp at the suddenness of the embrace, but then hugged him back just as tightly; staying like that for minutes on end. Finally, Undertaker let go, but brought his hands up to cradle her face. His bangs, as usual, covered his eyes, but she felt as though they were trying to gaze into her soul through her own eyes.

“I wouldn’t know what I would do if I had lost you yesterday, my love,” He said in a whisper. “I don’t want to have another memorial charm at my waist.”

Lailah smirked and shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about that.” She hopped on to the balls of her feet and gave his cheek a gentle kiss. “It takes more than what they did to kill me. I can assure you.”

There was a cough and a tapping of a foot. In the doorway, Sebastian stood staring at them with both eyebrows raised as if he wasn’t surprised at all. Undertaker’s smile reappeared on his face and his arm slid around her waist, pulling her up close to him.

“I assume you both are ready to go?” Sebastian asked.

“Heehee, how did you know, butler?”

Sebastian sighed, grabbed her suitcase still on the bed and turned his back to them. “The young master is waiting in the carriage. We have business to attend to today so please, make haste.”

“We’re coming, Sebastian,” Lailah said, grabbing Undertaker’s hand this time, but she didn’t have to drag him along. No. He happily followed close behind. Fits of giggles erupting from him every now and then.

He was happy.

She was happy.

_‘How long will this last, I wonder.’_


	19. Chapter 19

Light fingertips traced the scar along Ankou’s chest. Lailah’s head followed Ankou’s chest as his chest rose and fell with his breathing. She was up earlier than him as usual. Dark thoughts had clouded her dreams to the point where sleep wasn’t going to come easily anymore that night.

“Your colors are pretty bright, my little birdie, heehee,” Ankou stirred just a little before turning on his side and opening his eyes. “They’ll keep me awake at night.”

Lailah blushed, turning her face away from him. “Heh, sorry. I’m just… happy to be here with you.”

“Mmm, I can tell, heehee.” Ankou went up on to an elbow and kissed her cheek. “And I am also happy that you are here with me.”

Lailah chuckled, rolling him over and straddling him. Ankou smirked, cocked an eyebrow and put his hands behind his head. “It’s almost time to open shop, dear,” Lailah mumbled, going back to tracing his scar. “I bet there have been quite a lot of deaths in the past few days in the underworld of London.”

“I bet there have, love.” Ankou replied, pushing her back a bit so that he could sit up fully in bed. “I’m quite excited to work on some guests today.”

Lailah glanced at the time, barely making it out without her glasses, and her face was wiped clean of any smile. “Oh no.” She hopped off Undertaker and started to quickly get dressed; tossing aside clothes that weren’t hers in the pile of clean clothes that she had done with Ankou a few days before.

Ankou titled his head in confusion, then that smile grew back on his lips. “Late for a collection I take it? Heehee~”

“Very, _very_ late.” She said. “William is going to have my head. I’ll have to write an apology and work overtime-.”

“Wait a minute,” Undertaker grabbed her wrist and whirled her around to face him. “You are still recovering and I’m definitely not letting you out of my sight while those angels are around. You’ll just have to forget the collections for the time being.”

“Again... William better not give me his paper work this time. I’m not doing that.” She pulled up her pants and sat down on the bed again with a pout. “Do you… ever miss collecting?”

“Me?” Ankou blinked and thought for a second, giving his chin a tap with a nail. “I do sometimes…. I retired because the process became boring. I would _never_ actually go back to it.”

Lailah took a finger and traced a design into the fabric of the blankets. “Shinigami are one’s who have committed suicide and thus spend their afterlife collecting the souls of humans who have died in order to achieve forgiveness.” She whispered, now tracing the word ‘forgiveness’ into the fabric. “But when do we achieve forgiveness and who gives it?”

The weight shifted on the bed and Ankou appeared next to her with a frown and a concerned look on his face. “Dearie, is there something the matter?”

“No, no. I was… I was just thinking about… if I ever turned into a full-fledged Shinigami.”

“Heehee, what do you mean by _that_?” He chuckled. “You’re already a full-fledged Shinigami.”

Lailah shook her head. “No. I’m not. I won’t be until the angel aspect of me disappears and… and I don’t know if that is possible.”

Ankou leaned on his hands behind him, crossed his legs and threw his head back to get his bangs out of his face. “I’ve never heard of an angel turned Shinigami, but yet here you are. I’m sure it’s possible.”

“Ankou… I don’t… I don’t actually look like this.”

His top leg stopped swaying and his eyes darted to look at her. “Hm?”

Her face twisted in a mix of emotions as she continued, “Alice used her illusions on me once I was more… accustomed to heaven. I don’t look like this. I have piercings. I have tattoos. I have bigger… er, breasts. I have black hair and longer nails. The angels were afraid of me, so Alice made me into someone that I’m not…. Unfortunately, I can’t take it off. No one can. Not even Alice. I don’t even know if it _can_ be taken off.”

Ankou got off the bed and shook off any sleep that was still left. He stretched his hands to the ceiling and started to get ready for the day. Unfortunately, time had gotten away from them and he had little time to waste before his parlor opened.

“Well-,” He sighed, hooking his memorial chain around his hip. “I’ll love you no matter what you look like, my little birdie.”

She was silent for a moment, replaying his words in her head. Her eyes went wide when the words clicked and she threw her arms around him, squeezing him tight. “Do you… do you mean that? Do you really love me?”

Undertaker smirked and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

She squeezed tighter, then relaxed and looked up at him with glassy eyes. “I love you as well, Ankou.”

He chuckled, rustled her hair and kissed her lips as gently as he could. “It’s time for me to open shop, my dearie.”

Lailah let go and watched him as he made his rounds, making sure that he had everything he wanted to wear. Then, he pushed his bangs foreword and put his hat in its rightful place. He bowed his head and took his leave down the stairs. Lailah stood there for a bit just staring at the doorway to the stairs. Her heart hurt for some reason. She clutched at her chest with a frown. Why did it hurt?

She shook her head and got the rest of her clothes on. It didn’t matter. There wasn’t anything to be worried about. She must have been losing her mind. She flew down the stairs and sat in her spot behind the desk; watching Undertaker deal with a customer that had brought in a guest for him to take care of.

Then, the bell on the door rang and that’s when things started to fall apart.

The feeling in her chest before had been right.

“Ah, my Lord,” Undertaker nodded at Ciel and Sebastian, and waved to the customer making his leave. “What brings you here this morning? Heehee~”

“The Queen has informed me of recent deaths among many folks in London and the surrounding areas. They seem to be sporadic; not really targeting any group in particular.” Ciel grabbed the files from Sebastian’s hands and gave them to Undertaker. “Have you looked after any of these people?”

Undertaker smacked his lips together and very closely, examined the files. “Heehee, since you are allowing me to take care of my precious little birdie, I will give you this information for free.” His foot stepped on the recently received coffin and tapped it. “Right here is the only one that I have received so far. I haven’t even looked at the body yet.”

“Well, shall we take a look?” Sebastian asked with that demonic smile of his.

Undertaker grinned and lifted the top off the coffin and immediately, Ciel’s hand covered his nose in disgust.

“Bleeding out the ears, mouth, nose and eyes… interesting.” Sebastian mumbled, rubbing his chin.

“Can your head or brain really explode in your head?” Ciel asked, turning away from the body.

“Well, it doesn’t really explode, but that’s really the only way you can explain it, heehee,” Undertaker replied, putting the top back on the coffin.

“What can make your brain… explode, or make you bleed from every part of your head?” Ciel questioned once again.

Sebastian thought for a moment, then his eyes narrowed, growing a bright red color and he quickly whipped around to face Lailah. “The Demon’s Songstress can do something like this… can’t she, Lailah?”

Lailah grimaced, standing up and jumping over the desk to enter Sebastian’s personal space. Meaning, sticking her face just inches away from his own face. “Are you really saying that I am a suspect in this?”

“I’ve never heard of any drugs that actually did this sort of this, Lailah.” Sebastian spat.

“Well, we haven’t gone to Lau just yet, but it is very suspicious that your songs do the _exact_ same thing that we see here, Lailah,” Ciel said. “For now, you just might be our number one suspect in this-“

“Lailah Pultzner!”

_Oh no_.

In from a portal through a coffin on the wall came William, Grell, and Ronald. From Grell’s and Ronald’s faces, it didn’t look good that they were here. From William’s, it certainly didn’t look good. William shoved past Sebastian and Undertaker and got into Lailah’s face. She was confused, but her grimace never left her face. She was certainly _not_ in the mood to deal with this reaper.

“The higher ups looked into the people that were dying but not on the to-die list,” William said, getting closer to her face. “They found that the to-die list had been tampered with.”

“And? Why are you angry with _me_?” Lailah hissed, stepping back away from William so that if he wanted to, he couldn’t surprise her with the use of his death scythe.

“They found that it was tampered with by an _angel_.” William pulled from his back pocket, a white feather and threw it in Lailah’s face.

“You think it was me?!”

“What other angel could have gotten pass the higher ups to tamper with the to-die list!?” William yelled.

Grell put her hand on his shoulder. “Will, darling, please calm down-.”

William shoved her hand off his shoulder. “I trusted you, Lailah! You are hereby a violator and will be suspended from collection until further notice! Maybe even something worse will happen than suspension! I should have never trusted you in the first place! We can never trust fallen angels!”

Lailah’s eyes shifted down to the floor; already filling with tears, but she had to be strong at this moment. “You all… think that I’m responsible for all of this….”

“It all seems to add up, Lailah,” Ronald said.

“Fine.” Lailah grabbed her glasses, threw them at William, and dashed to the door.

“Hold on-,”

Sebastian had grabbed at her right wrist as she bolted. Flames erupted from her left hand and a spear formed. She turned around and stabbed Sebastian in the shoulder, then swung in at the others; even Undertaker.

“I’m no longer a Phantomhive maid, nor am I a Shinigami.” Lailah swung her spear again and opened the door behind her. “I am a fallen angel and that’s all I’ll ever be!”

Her wings came out and she soared up high in the sky. Cold tears streamed down her face as she flew over all of London, trying to find a secluded place to land. Eventually, she landed on top of an abandoned building. She made sure that no one was following her and then she collapsed to the floor in sobs. They hadn’t believed her. They hadn’t trusted her.

Did Undertaker even really love her?

He had said it was true, and she hadn’t felt as though he was lying, but now she couldn’t even tell if he was telling the truth about him being Ankou.

“What seems to be the matter?”

“Get-!” Wait. She knew that voice. She never thought that she would _miss_ that voice so much. She turned and her arms wrapped around the legs of the person that had found her. “Ash… Angela....”

The fallen angel, who was now Angela, bent down, making Lailah take her arms off her, and stroked Lailah’s hair gently with a smile. “Lailah… I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Angela… how did all of this happen…. _Why_ did all of this happen?”

Angela lifted Lailah’s chin up and gazed into her eyes. “Join me… join us… in purifying this world. You are wanted her with us.”

The other four angels suddenly came to Angela’s side and Lailah flipped, backing away from them. “You-! You!”

“Lailah… we are sorry about what we did to you,” Alice was the first to speak. Her expression, her eyes, her voice… they all seemed sincere. All four looked sincere about her apology and nodded in unison. “Lailah… please, we just want you back. We just want you to be with your own kind. No one else deserves you. Everyone else wants to use you. They don’t really care about you… not like we do.”

Undertaker’s voice popped into her head just then with the words _‘I love you’._ But, where was he now? What had he been doing while the others were accusing her of things she didn’t do? He didn’t do anything. He hadn’t followed her to make sure she was okay. He hadn’t reassured her while she was under scrutiny. He didn’t speak up in her defense at all.

_He hadn’t done anything._

Lailah sniffed, wiped her tears away and stood up on wobbly legs. “I am Lailah Pultzner. I am a fallen angel and I will purify the human realm with my fellow angels.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to say a huge thank you for those who have been commenting and giving this fic a kudos! I've always been self conscious of my fics since I tend to write for OCs, but this fandom seems to be a lot more accepting of them then the other fandoms that I have been in!
> 
> Again, thank you! It's actually getting to the end! However, there will be a sequel to this fic after it has been completed! So don't worry! This won't be the only fic of our wonderful Lailah! I don't know all the details just yet, but it will keep following the manga surely!

“Lailah, please. Sing your song! Let the people bask in your voice and become purified by it!”

Lailah looked over at Ash. She was exhausted from singing these past few days. She knew this was wrong, but she at least felt wanted. She at least felt useful. So, she would keep on singing her song whenever it was asked of her. She made sure to not target all of the people that they wanted her to sing to; giving the ‘I can’t control it enough’ as an excuse as to why she didn’t sing to everyone. That was a lie though. She didn’t want to kill everybody. She didn’t want to kill anyone. She didn’t want to kill period. But she felt wanted here. She felt useful.

So, she would keep on singing.

When her song was over and all her targets had died, she brought out a single cigarette, lit it with her hand, and hopped from one rooftop to the next; trying to get as far away as she could before she had to drop. She knew that both the reapers and the Queen’s watchdog were looking for her and possibly the others. She wasn’t about to get caught.

“Oh, Lailah.” Angela and the other angels finally caught up with her once she had dropped to rest and smoke. “You don’t have to hop across rooftops anymore, silly. You have wings!”

Lailah sighed and took a puff, blowing the smoke into a ring. “Flying just drains my energy faster.”

Angela bent down and wiped the blood from Lailah’s nose. “But you could have gotten further in the time that it took you to hop over here.”

Lailah puffed again, glancing away with a frown. “Why didn’t he stick up for me?”

Angela cocked her eyebrow. “Who?”

“Undertaker… Why didn’t he stick up for me? Why didn’t… why didn’t they trust me? I worked so hard. I did everything that the reapers asked of me including staying with that blasted demon, and in the end… in the end….”

“Please stop thinking about those nasty creatures that hurt you,” Alice pipped up. “They are nothing but specks of dust.”

“But… but he said that he loved me,” Lailah whispered, taking out another cigarette and lighting it. One cigarette took the edge off while the second one kept her from going unconscious.

Alice giggled and bent down next to Angela. “He was just trying to manipulate you. He doesn’t love you. None of them care. We angels are the luckiest, strongest, and smartest of the other worldly creatures. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were jealous of you.”

Lailah whined, but conceded into silence. She put out her first cigarette and stuck the next on in her mouth. She had always been okay with just having one, but second ones always made her feel sick to her stomach. By the second one, the taste had become disgusting and she could point out every single chemical that was in them. The smoke of the second was always thicker than the first and stronger than the first too. The second left her tongue feeling like ash. It was horrible.

“Lailah… we should have told you this a few days ago, but-.“ Aaron handed her a print of one of Undertaker’s memorial charms. “Claudia P. Who do you think that is?”

Lailah shook her head.

Aaron gave her another piece of paper. This time, it was a copy of a death certificate. “Claudia Phantomhive.”

Lailah’s eyes widen, and then she shut them in disbelief. “Phantomhive…. Why did-.”

“He was in love with her, Lailah and he had never stopped loving her even after her death.” Ara chimed in. “He can’t love you. He will only ever love Claudia.”

Lailah threw the paper in the mud beside her and sat in silence. People could love more than once, right? Maybe it was all in her head. Maybe he hadn’t said I love you after all. Maybe she had dreamt it.

“You know,” Angela hummed, shifting her hands under Lailah’s arms and hoisting her up. “I think… it would be wise if all of us had… a little chat with these creatures.”

“A chat?” Lailah blinked.

“Mhmm. They’ll come to us for a nice… _chat_.”                                                   

* * *

 

Ciel tapped his fingers on his desk with a snarl on his face. “None of you have even found a clue as to where she could be?” 

“Honestly, who put you in charge of this investigation?” William sneered, pushing his glasses up with his scythe. “We reapers only agreed to this because it was easier than having to find her before you, but we never agreed to having you be in charge.”

“Senpai, please stop.” Ronald groaned, putting his hands on his head and shaking his hair. “You’ve been complaining about him being in charge ever since we started this search.”

“I agree with Ronnie. Give it a rest, Will, darling.” Grell huffed, giving William’s legs a light kick.

“We have contacts that you don’t. We have an advantage.” Ciel said. “Do you really think that me being in charge of this search is impeding on you being able to find her?”

William grumbled, but made no attempt to answer. Ciel was right. It wasn’t impeding on anyone’s search. They were all frustrated. Especially Undertaker. He hadn’t said anything since Lailah had stormed out of his shop. He barely ate what he was given. He barely slept. His hair was in knots, and his clothes were wrinkled and parts were ripped. He was out searching when the others weren’t. He wanted to find her first. He _needed_ to find her first.

“I suppose that’s enough for today. We can search some more tomorrow. Maybe on the outskirts of London,” Sebastian said. “Maybe we will find some type of pattern in her killings that we can follow and beat her to the next area.”

Ciel suddenly stood erect. His eyes wide; pupils fully dilated.

“Young master?”

Ciel took a few wobbly steps out from behind his desk, took his coat from Sebastian and continued out the door and down the stairs. Sebastian blinked, but motioned for everyone to follow. Ciel went out the main doors, taking a few wobbly steps down the stairs and continued down the main roadway. He tripped a few times since he couldn’t actually control his walking, but he got back up without Sebastian’s help and would trudge on.

“What’s he doing?” Grell asked.

“Where’s he going?” Ronald asked.

William’s eyes twitched at the faint sound he was just starting to hear. “Does anyone else hear that? That sound… I think it’s controlling him.”

They all stayed quiet, trying to pick up what William already had. It was faint, but eventually, they all picked it up with their own ears. A song. It was a song. A popular children’s song at that. It was the ‘London Bridge’ song that was being sung over and over again.

“Is it Lailah singing?” Ronald asked, stepping over a few patches of mud.

“No.” Sebastian shook his head. “The Demon’s Songstress can only kill or at best, severely injure. That power can’t do anything like this.”

Ciel made a sharp turn and continued into the woods. The singing eventually grew louder and everyone else was starting to feel a little woozy from it. It seemed that even if Ciel was the actual target of this song, it definitely affected other people who were around the target.

Eventually, Ciel stopped. They were by a small lake with a run-down building and a really old, toppling stone wall that was about Ciel’s height. The singing eventually stopped and they all stood in silence; waiting for the songstress to come out of hiding. Ciel eventually blinked, shook his head and looked at his surroundings seeming to be very confused.

“Where am I?”

Undertaker shrugged. “You were the one that led us here, my Lord.”

“Young master, do you remember anything before you blanked?” Sebastian asked, walking around Ciel to examine him thoroughly.

Ciel rested a hand on his chin and thought for a second. “I remember hearing the lyrics to a children’s song, and then I was here.”

“I didn’t realize how far your estate was from this place, but you finally made it. All of you.” In the middle of the area, Ash landed gently on the ground with a small grin. “Did you like my song? It’s one of my favorites to sing. 

Grell made a disgusted face. “A children’s song doesn’t do it for me.”

“Why exactly did you bring us here, fallen angel?” Sebastian asked, completely ignoring Grell’s statement.

The other angels landed behind Ash with Lailah in the far right back of the group. Her eyes immediately gazed to the ground, not wanting to look at anyone who in the other group. Their betrayal still hurt. The pain still burned in her chest and at that moment, she wanted to cry. Seeing Undertaker for the first time in days made her burning heart flutter though and she wanted to throw her arms around his neck and never let go. But she couldn’t now. She had made her decision.

“We just wanted to chat on our companion’s behalf,” Ash said, motioning to Lailah. “You all have really hurt this poor soul.”

“I’m assuming you want us to apologize to someone that went behind all of our backs,” William said, once again pushing up his glasses with his scythe. “Absolutely not.”

“Oh, but that’s not what I wanted.” Ash replied, wagging his finger at the group. Lailah’s brows furrowed and her eyes darted to Ash. “That would be quite nice, but we can’t have any of you interfering with our purification.”

“Young master, if you could get behind me, that would be wonderful.” Sebastian’s hand grabbed at Ciel’s shoulder and dragged him to the back of the group.

“Lailah…,” Undertaker breathed, taking a few steps towards the angels, but Lailah wouldn’t look at him and she took a few steps back.

There was a sudden snap and dirt blew from the ground just by Undertaker’s feet. Alice recoiled her whip. Her smile was as fake as one of her illusions. “Don’t even try to go near her. She doesn’t want anything to do with the likes of you.”

“That’s not….” Lailah whispered but her sentence trailed off.

Knives were suddenly flung at Ash’s face. He caught them all and bent them, throwing them on the ground after with a snarl. “That wasn’t very nice, but I expect nothing more from a demon.”

Grell’s eyes seemed to sparkle and her chainsaw came to her side. She revved the motor and pointed it in Aaron’s direction. “Oh boy! I can feel one massive fight coming on!”

An arrow whizzed past Ronald’s head and lodged itself into a nearby tree. Arthur’s face was dark and menacing, unlike Alice’s bright, smiling face. “It’s five against six and we are all angels. You don’t stand a chance.”

There was a bit more trash talking, then the real fight began. Ash to Sebastian and everyone else going from one reaper to the next… Except Lailah and Undertaker weren’t participating in this ongoing group battle. They stood a few feet away from each other; Lailah’s angelic spear coming to her side and Undertaker taking out a sotoba.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Lailah mumbled, bringing herself into an attack position.

“You already have, my love.”

Lailah’s eyes snapped wide, and she rushed towards Undertaker, spear jabbing at his face. He dodged the relatively slow jabs and whipped his sotoba at her. She backed up and also whipped her spear at him. She went for him again. Her spear went above her head and came down on his sotoba, but couldn’t break it. They stayed in that position; Undertaker’s hands gripping his weapon harshly as Lailah kept the weight on her spear trying to break the sotoba.

“I hurt _you_?” Lailah spat. “When everyone was blaming me for shit, what the hell did you do? Did you stand up for me? Did you question any of them? What did you do? Nothing! You did nothing for me!”

Lailah broke contact and jabbed at Undertaker’s shoulder. He narrowly jumped out of the way, but she did rip apart his sash. It fell to the ground in a heap, and he kicked it aside.

“You just stormed out of my shop,” Undertaker mumbled. “I didn’t have a chance.”

They both went for each other. Lailah’s spear aiming for Undertaker’s chest while his sotoba was brought back behind him as he went for her. She was impressed by his strength. His sotoba. His ability to fight with his bangs in his face. Not to mention, he could fight without the use of glasses. Lailah had been accustomed to fighting without them for about 175 years. She didn’t realize that he could fight without them as well.

“Before this fight goes any further, why don’t you tell Lailah who really sent Damien to her that night?”

Sebastian’s words made Lailah stop in her tracks and immediately turn her head. “What?” She quickly remembered that Undertaker was coming at her and her head turned back to see his sotoba coming straight for her neck… but it stopped just an inch away. He dropped the point of his weapon and backed away, letting her go.

Her spear never left her side as she walked into the middle of the two groups and stared down Sebastian who was bleeding from all sorts of wounds. “What do you mean?”

Sebastian grinned and pointed to Ash who was spotless in the wound department. “Ash and Angela were the ones to have Damien come to you that night. Isn’t that right?”

Lailah’s face dropped and she turned to Ash whose own face showed no emotion. “Is… is this true Ash? Angela?”

Ash stayed silent for a minute, then sighed. “Yes. It is.”

“They were also the ones to stop your soul from being turned into a full-fledged Shinigami. Isn’t that right?”

“You are right once again, demon.”

Lailah was in utter shock. Her spear fell to the ground. Her hand was brought to her forehead and seemed to attempt to cave her skull in. “But… but why? You were my only true friend in heaven. You were... you… Why? Explain yourself. Are you the reason why I can’t remember my human life?”

“No. That was your fault.” Ash sighed again, fixing his jacket and gloves, seeming to get ready to explain. “I have been getting myself ready to purify the human realm ever since I went up to heaven 400 years ago. I had gathered Alice, Aaron, Arthur and Ara, but before I could fall, I needed another; another who would hold my strong distaste for humans. So, I sought out humans who had the same rough life that I had when I was a human.”

Ash pursed his lips, starting to transform into Angela, but thought better of it and continued his explanation as himself. “You were just the one we were looking for. Your name, real name, is Cassandra Luxan, born the 15th of February in 1659. When you were just three years old, you witnessed the murder of your mother. She was torn to shreds by a group of men. At the age of seven, you witnessed the death of your grandparents. They were stabbed to death in their bed while you hid under it.”

As Ash explained, Lailah’s eyes turned glassy. Her fists clenched tight to the point where her stubby nails seeped into her palm, making her bleed. She couldn’t believe what was being said. It was all bullshit, right? He was just making it all up, right? Yes. He was just making it all up… so she wanted to believe anyway.

“At age 15, you witnessed the death of your best friends. They were ganged up on and beaten to death. You were sparred because you were the prettiest of the bunch.” Ash went on, not stopping for a second. “Age 18, you witnessed your boyfriend being killed by his jealous past lover. Same thing happened to your next boyfriend at age 19. Age 20 you witnessed the murder of your father, the only family member you had left. He was killed by one of his clients who had been drunk that night. Finally, at age 21, you married a nobleman named Jarred Puxer and you thought life was finally turning around.”

“But it wasn’t… I’m assuming,” Lailah said through gritted teeth.

Ash nodded in agreement. “At ages 22, 23, 25, and 27, you had miscarriages. At age 28, you finally gave birth, but the child died only a few days later. At age 29, you witnessed the murder of your husband. He was killed by a mob that sought to kill all of the nobles of the country. Feeling all the weight of the deaths of your loved ones and feeling useless since you couldn’t do anything about them, you killed yourself by smashing your head against a stone wall at the age of 30-.”

“WHAAAAAAT?!” Grell’s shrill voice exploded from behind Lailah. “You’re 30?! You look younger than me! How are you 30?!”

“Grell Sutcliff! Please calm yourself!” William hissed and hit her over the head with his scythe.

Ash cleared his throat in aggravation. He didn’t like being interrupted but especially by a reaper. “A reaper came to claim your soul and take you back to the reaper realm, but I intervened and killed him. I took you and your soul back with me to heaven, but you had completely lost your memory. You didn’t even know who you were. So, you came up with the name Lailah Pultzner.”

Lailah grimaced. “You stuck your nose into a reaper’s business.”

“Yes, but for a good reason! Angels are the most heavenly creatures! We are the greatest to ever be created!” Ash opened his arms wide, offering a hug to Lailah. “I was the one to tamper with the to-die list.”

“Oh dear,” William looked away. “It… it wasn’t Lailah after all.”

“No, but you screwed up that investigation by just blaming it on Lailah right away,” Ash said. “I was also the one to kill those people who looked as though Lailah had sung to them.”

Sebastian and Ciel also looked away, not wanting to say anything to point out how wrong they were.

Ash took a step towards Lailah; arms still wide open with a smile on his face. “Lailah… now that you know the truth, who will you stay with? Creatures who won’t even admit to being wrong nor apologizing, or your fellow angels who love and cherish you and who will do anything for you.”

‘ _Anything for me?’_ Lailah closed her eyes with a sigh. Ash was manipulating her. She knew it. He only wanted to kill humans and even other worldly creatures after finishing his work with the humans. The others were the same. They followed Ash and Angela blindly. They couldn’t think for themselves. They didn’t want her because they loved her. No. They wanted her to use her. They were the real traitors. However, the others had screwed up big time. How could she accept such apologies from them? How could they accept her apology? They would probably have her killed and her soul would never find rest.

“Lailah, you know the right answer,” Ash interrupted her thoughts. “Come.”

_“No.”_


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for the delay in this chapter! I've been stressed out to the max and haven't had the chance to really sit down and get this chapter done. It also has fighting in it and I'm really not good with battle scenes so I had to make it as best as I could before even uploading it. Hopefully, the rest of them come to me faster than this one did.

“No?” Ash asked. “No? What do you mean no?”

“I am choosing a side. The side that didn’t butt into a reapers business when he came to collect me when I had killed myself. The side that didn’t send a demon to force me into submission. The side that doesn’t manipulate me to the point where I feel like all I can do is kill.”

Ash started to laugh. He laughed deeply, then it became more of a high pitched, wild laughing as though he had gone completely insane. The four other angels followed suit while Lailah and the others looked on. Eventually, Ash’s laughing calmed down, and he had to wipe away tears that were still falling from his eyes. “D-do you really think that they care about you after you betrayed them and came with us?”

“I… N-no-.”

“Do you think that they’ll just accept you after what you’ve done?”

Lailah heaved a sigh and answered, “No.”

“Then why, oh just why are you choosing them over us?” Ash started to laugh again, but not as hysterically mad like before.

“It does not matter if they care about me after what I did,” Lailah said, standing tall, lifting her chin up, and puffing her chest out. “I care about them. It does not matter if they’ll accept me after what I have done. I’ll accept them. I love them all dearly- er, well, the demon is okay in my book – but everyone else-,” Her eyes darted to Undertaker and she nodded slightly. “I love. That’s the only thing that matters to me.”

Ash had seen her eyes dart to Undertaker and he grinned demonically. Lailah watched as he strolled over to Ankou and got right up in his face with that grin on his face. “I know you… You’re the one that still loves the one on your hip-.“ Ash flicked at Undertaker’s memorial charms, making Undertaker frown. “You will always love her. You can’t love anyone else, can you? … I know you… I know who you truly are.”

Lailah picked up her spear and bolted; spear going above her head and bringing it down right in between the two before Ash could out Undertaker as Ankou. Ash hissed and backed away quickly. His wings flapping dirt and dust at her as he backed off. The others formed a V shape behind him again and they all stared down Lailah like she had just committed a sin.

“You will _still_ protect him and his identity? Even after everything you know?”

“As I said before,” Lailah said, spinning her spear and pointing it behind her. She then opened her wings and stretched them as wide as they would go. “It does not matter if he can’t love me. I love him and I’ll fight for him until I die.”

Ash smirked. “Those wings stretched out like that… Are you challenging us to an angel’s quarrel?”

Lailah nodded. “I am.”

Ash snapped his fingers at the others. His smirk growing into a wide grin. “Then come. Let us make our contract.”

“What’s an angel’s quarrel?” Ciel asked. Surprisingly, everyone shook their heads, including Sebastian.

“It’s a sacred fight between other worldly creatures, mostly angels, hence the name,” Lailah replied, walking towards the suddenly appearing circular table and goblets in the center of the area. “We make a contract. The challenger gets one request that has to be fulfilled. Then, it’s a fight to the death that is seen as okay by others of the other realms.” She turned with a sad smile on her face. “This is so that you guys don’t have to fight them and get injured… or worse.”

“No. No, no! I won’t allow you to-.”

“She has already made up her mind, Undertaker.” Alice snarled at him. “But, in case you and the others try to intervene….”

There were sudden movements around them, then there was thin, silver wirings enclosed on them. As they struggled within the wires, ripping and popping sounds started to come from them. The ripping and popping sounds were their clothing when they struggled against the wires. The reapers didn’t have the space to cut the wires with their death scythes and Sebastian’s knives wouldn’t do the trick even if he could move.

“I wouldn’t struggle anymore if I were you fellows~” Alice giggled, as Arthur twanged the wire and showed them a deep cut that was produced from the wiring. “This is a special type of wiring. It’s as strong as titanium, but as sharp as the blade of a katana.”

“Alice-.”

“Are you really going to protest, Lailah? They’ll be safe if they don’t try to escape the web.”

Lailah grumbled, but stood at the table with one goblet on her side and another on the angels’ side. She stared into the cup, trying to put on a brave face for everyone, especially Undertaker, but it wasn’t working. She knew there was a slim chance that she would actually survive this. She could take the four, but Ash and Angel were the beasts of the group.

“What is your one request, challenger?” Ash asked, making Lailah blink and throw her head up from staring into the cup.

“My request… No matter what the final outcome of this fight is, if I end up dying in this fight-,“ She glanced over towards the group in the web and took a breath. “You are not to harm them in anyway. You are not to harm even the slightest hair on their heads. You are not to even lay a finger on them. Not even the demon.”

“As you wish,” Ash nodded and took his sword from his sheath. “Now, be a good little reaper and slice your wrists like you know how to do very well~”

“That was uncalled for!” Grell fumed, struggling again against the wires. “I’ll saw you in half once I get out of here!”

“Grell, please… It’s okay.” Lailah took her spear head, and the rest took out their own angelic weapons and together, they all sliced into their right wrists and watched as their blood dripped into the goblet. Lailah had to make sure there was enough to get around.

“Switch cups,” Ash said and she obeyed, tossing her goblet across the table and he did the same. They held up the cups and all together they chanted-

_“With the power of our weapons, with the power of our souls and by the power of our hearts, I will defeat the one that challenges me or die trying!”_

And then they drank; Ash and the others sharing the cup. Blood was not something a reaper or an angel liked the taste of. It was only demons who did. The different blood from all of them made the taste even worse, but Lailah sucked it up. She slammed it on the table and waited for the others to finish.

Ash gently place the cup on the table and with a grin asked, “How was the blood, Lailah? Tasty?”

“No.” She glared at them all. “Disgusting.”

Lailah threw the goblet in Ash’s face, breaking the cup and gashing his cheek. She lodged her foot under the table, kicked it upward and pushed it into the group. With her spear in hand, she backed away with a couple of back walk overs and took an attack position. She’s learned so much as a reaper, but was it enough? Probably not, but this was for them… this was for Undertaker.

Her eyes darted just in time to see Alice’s newly fixed whip coming straight at her face. Lailah pulled her spear into the path of the whip, and it wrapped around the spear head and tightened. Lailah turned the spear head over, planting it in the ground, and hoisted herself up and over the spear, giving her the moment to be able to whip the spear over her head and sending Alice right into the lake.

Her wings came shooting out and she deflected Arthur’s arrows, trying to send them back towards him, but he seemed to be hiding somewhere up high in the clouds. Arthur’s arrows weren’t much of a distraction though. She caught Ara’s mace and pushed her back on to the ground and dodged Aaron’s 2 huge swings with his axe.

Alice popped out of the lake and came charging at Lailah, but in one fluid motion, Lailah rammed her spear through Alice’s chest. A choking sound escaped her throat as did blood. Her hands reached out to Lailah, gurgling her name, and then her hands dropped, and she went limp and lifeless.

A sudden, sharp pain spasmed throughout her arm and part of her chest. Her eyes darted to find one of Arthur’s arrows stuck in her arm. Blood trickling down her arm. He quickly loaded a few more and sent them at her. Lailah turned and used Alice’s lifeless body to shield herself from the arrows.

A looming shadow washed over her from behind and she quickly grabbed the axe’s hand and pushed back at Aaron’s strength. Being stuck between two angels wasn’t enough though. Ara charged and flung her mace behind her head, ready to bash Lailah’s head into her body.

Lailah kicked up her leg and with the knife out of the heel of her boot, kicked Ara in the stomach before she could bring her mace back over her head. Her foot planted itself back on the ground and pushed up towards Aaron, pushing his huge axe back and making him fall to the floor. In one fluid motion, Lailah flicked her spear towards the lake, Alice’s body splashed and sank down, then Lailah turned and hurled her spear right into Arthur’s chest, making him fall to the ground in a heap. His body also lifeless.

She backed up as Aaron jumped up from the ground and once again swung his axe at her. This time, she jumped and stood atop his axe once his swing was finished. He stood there, blinking at the empty space in front of him then looked towards Lailah who stood straight with her hands behind her back.

“Off with your head,” She hissed and kicked Aaron’s head straight off his neck and watched as it rolled on the ground and into the lake. She hopped off as Aaron’s body slumped to the ground.

Lailah turned her attention to Ara who had left a bloody trail on the ground as she crawled towards her mace. The reaper stared for a bit then walked over to Ara, still crawling to her mace. She picked up her foot and hovered it over Ara’s head. Ara gave a silent sob and then the foot was brought down, crushing her skull to bits; blood and other parts of the head flew everywhere.

Lailah backed away and shivered at what she had just done, but she had to do it. She had to kill them all.

“Bravo, Lailah~”

That voice… it wasn’t Angela nor Ash. No.

Lailah whipped around and was instantly engulfed in darkness.

“It’s so good to see you again, Lailah,” Damien chuckled. “You’re just as cute as you were back when we first met. My, how time has come and gone~”


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, it's been a while but I have finally written a full chapter! Haha! Only 1 or maybe 2 more after this one and then I'm going to take a break and then get started on a sequel! ^-^

The dark scared her. She would never admit it. She would never show it, but it did. The dark terrified Lailah to no end. Being engulfed in Damien’s dark mass again was truly horrifying. She never expected to see him again nor did she want to. As the darkness entered through her eyes, she caught glimpses of the past. As the darkness entered her mouth, making her choke and gurgle, she could taste the past as well. The darkness entered her ears, clouding her mind with sounds of the past. After every glimpse, hateful words would taunt her. Words like ‘pitiful’, ‘useless’, ‘whore’, and specifically the word that had been engraved on to her back.

And they hurt.

And the darkness surrounding not only her exterior but within her body as well, hurt.

“Lailah!” Undertaker screamed her name, but obviously there was no answer or sign that she could even hear him.

“If I’m not mistaking, you’re breaking the contract between you and Lailah, Ash,” Sebastian said, turning his head to glance at the angel sitting atop the crumbling old building with a smirk upon his face.

“You think Damien’s blood wasn’t in the mix?” Ash chuckled, sitting back on to his elbows. “I knew those four wouldn’t stand a chance against Lailah, even without her using the powers of the Demon’s songstress. I had to have the advantage so, while the others were pouring their blood into the goblet-,” He held out a vial and dropped it on to the roof, letting it roll and then drop to the ground; shattering on impact. “I snuck in a vial of Damien’s blood.”

“And while Lailah was busy with the other four-.”

“Ash left with the goblet filled with Lailah’s blood, letting you drink from it,” William said, cutting off Damien.

Damien frowned. “Tch.” He then began to gaze over the group. “So, these are Lailah’s so called friends? Some humans, lousy reapers, and… My, Sebastian Michaelis?” The darkness that engulfed Lailah tightened around her and little gasps escaped Lailah’s throat. “Mmm, thankfully I’m here now. I don’t like sharing my meals.”

“Your… meals?” Ciel’s voice shook a bit, then he gulped and put on a brave face as if to say he didn’t care that much about the explanation.

“See the poor, dim white light around the outside of the darkness engulfing our dear Lailah?” Ash outlined the light with his finger then leaned on Undertaker’s shoulder the best that he could without hurting himself on the wires. “That’s her life force. It’s not a strong light since she’s not a strong person. Well anyway, Damien is going to absorb that life force and well, kill her.”

In Damien’s cold, dark sack, Lailah had just finished reliving her time with Damien. Feeling the pain of that forced sexual act. Hearing everything that he had said back then. Tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

_‘I deserve this. I deserve to die,’_ Lailah thought, feeling a pull at her life force. _‘I was stupid. I never needed to belong. I never needed to be like others for creatures and people alike to like me, but I was stupid. I was so… stupid. I deserve this.’_

Undertaker tilted his head down, frowning towards the ground. “You truly believe that Lailah is a weak person?”

Lailah’s eyes widened at the sweet sound of Undertaker’s voice. The tears started falling faster and her body started to shake wildly _. ‘Undertaker… Ankou… I’m sorry.’_

His head tilted to the side and let his bangs fall away from one of his eyes which only Ash could see. “Lailah is stronger than anyone I know and if you think this will break her, you’re wrong.”

_‘Ankou….’_

Ash snickered and pat Undertaker’s shoulder. “And how do you know that? You’ve known her for what? A few months? Maybe a little under a year? I’ve known her her whole life! What makes you think you know her better than I do?”

“You didn’t love her though. You don’t know everything about someone unless you love them,” Undertaker said, his bangs falling back into place covering his eye. He looked up to the dark mass that was Lailah. “I’m sorry I didn’t stand up for you when they were all accusing you of things which you didn’t do. I didn’t even stand up for you after you left. I’m sorry. I know you can get out of this. You need to! I love you! You need… you need to make it through this!”

Silence, but the light around the dark grew a bit dimmer.

“Lailah….” William sighed, scrunching his nose to try and fix his glasses. “I’m also sorry. I was harsh and quick to judge. I should have done more with the investigation instead of immediately yelling at you.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t stop him Lailah,” Grell said.

“Me too.” Ronald nodded.

Her light got dimmer, almost disappearing.

“I’m not apologizing for doing my job as the Queen’s watchdog nor is Sebastian going to apologize for doing what I ask of him,” Ciel said. “However, I will apologize for accusing you without all the facts. No one is guilty unless proven otherwise.”

The dark sack started to shake and Damien took a step back; cocking his head in confusion. The spear that was lodged into Arthur broke free from his flesh and was absorbed by the heap of darkness. The dim light vanished but in its place grew a wild green fire. The darkness ripped apart and the green fire flew towards Damien and within that green fire, one could hear Lailah’s voice, screaming, “Go back to hell!”

The fire landed and stood erect, but didn’t extinguish. Out of the dust where Damien once stood, his severed head rolled out on the ground. Lailah extended her wings and the green flame started to melt them.

“Wh-what’s hap-happening!?” Ash screamed in horror.

“Her wings are melting,” Undertaker hummed.

“She’s becoming a full blown Shinigami like she was supposed to be,” William said.

Once her wings had fully melted, the flames of green died down and certain parts of Lailah started to change. Her skin grew a tad darker. Her nails grew a bit longer and got sharp on the ends. Her breasts sagged a little bit more, almost busting the button that was keeping her coat together around her chest, and her hip widened just a bit along with her thighs. Her hair got longer, turning into two braids along each side of her head which twisted around the rest of her hair. Her bangs grew into one long, elegant piece, falling down her face, covering half her left eye and the hair turned from white to black with white streaks. Piercings appeared all around both her ears, one on her nose and if she wasn’t fully clothed, one could see dozens of tattoos.

“That feels-,” Lailah turned around, put her the head of her spear into the ground and grinned. “ _much_ better.”

“… How did the spell wear off? It was supposed to be permanent!” Ash’s voice boomed, making the birds in the nearby trees take to the skies.

“Well, for starters, Alice is dead, so that weakened the illusion,” Lailah explained, pointing her spear towards the lake where Alice’s body floated; back facing towards the sky. “Once my wings melted, I became a full-fledged reaper. The illusion was casted for an angel, not a reaper.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” Grell yelled struggling against the wires. “You look even younger now! How the hell does that happen!?”

Ignoring Grell’s yelling, Ronald cocked his head a bit and frowned. “But why would you want to change her appearance?”

“Her appearance is not correct for an angel!” Ash said. “With that hair style and those tattoos of yours. Thankfully, you can’t see them when you wear long sleeves and long skirt or pants. And all those… those piercings!”

“Especially this one, right?” Lailah snickered and stuck out her tongue revealing her tongue piercing with a wink.

“You can’t use that spear. It’s made for angels _only_ ,” Ash sneered, ignoring Lailah’s teasing.

Lailah took the spear from the ground and spun it in her hand. “Sorry, but this spear was made for _me_. Not an angel. Me. Yes, it is called an angelic weapon, but what it is received, the user can use it no matter what.”

Ash closed his eyes, calming down his shaking body and putting his hand on the handle of his sword. “There is one thing that’s good about this situation.” The blade came unsheathed and Ash came flying at her at a tremendous speed. “Your vision is worse now!”

Lailah flicked her wrist up and her spear head hit the sword’s blade, pushing it away from her body. She brought her knee straight up to his groin, put her hands on his back and pushed off and over him, showing off with several flips and walkovers, then finally standing straight. “My vision _is_ worse now, but I never _did_ use my vision to fight.”

Ash gripped his sword tight, whipped around and shot his sword arm up. The angelic sword started glowing immensely, making everyone besides Ash cover their eyes from the blinding light.

“I’ll make sure you can’t fight with anything then!”

Again, Ash came flying towards her, clashing his sword against her spear. There was a lot of screaming, especially cursing in French coming from Ash as he slashed and hacked at Lailah. Lailah, on the other hand, was silent; concentrating on defending and trying to find any opening to poke and prod at the angel. There weren’t a lot, but whenever there was, a new gash appeared on Ash.

“I know your fighting style, Ash,” Lailah hummed, finally pushing him back hard with the butt of her spear and going after him instead of the other way around. “You haven’t changed a bit since the last time we fought.” She slashed at him at an angle and then quickly pushed her spear straight into the bicep of his sword arm. “I, however, have grown. My fighting style is different. Yes, it’s the same weapon, but I am now more efficient in it along with knowing how to fight with other weapons, I can implement that into my spear technique.”

“Heh… you really have grown, Lailah,” Ash chuckled, gripping the spear in his arm tightly. “But you’re wrong about me. I have grown.” His knuckles turned white as he yanked the spear out of his arm and thrust his sword at Lailah.

Lailah could feel it coming and she moved out of the way of the sword. However, he still had a firm grip on her spear. Once distracted by the blade of his sword, Ash yanked the spear out of Lailah’s hands, pointed it at her and the spear head went straight through her body. Luckily, he didn’t have time to aim. He had just missed her stomach.

Lailah’s eyes went wide and she stood there frozen in silence.

“Lailah….?” She heard Undertaker say but all she did was wheeze in reply.

Ash pulled out the spear slowly, making Lailah’s face contort in pain, he then slashed her chest with his sword and thrust her spear into her opposite shoulder. There were gasps from the group. Slight moans and silent sobs specifically from Undertaker, but no one really yelled out in protest.

“It seems as though you haven’t grown enough, Lailah,” Ash smirked and took the spear from her shoulder.

Lailah staggered back words and fell to her hands and knees. _‘He faked me…. He faked and I couldn’t see it coming.’_ She gulped, letting out a shaky breath. _‘No one is crying my name… No one is struggling anymore….’_ She let her head hang in a sign of defeat. _‘At least they will be safe for sure.’_

Ash dropped the spear on the ground and slowly waltzed around to her backside. He bent down and brushed the hair away from her neck, sending a shiver down her spine in a frustrated response. He stood back up and pointed the tip of his blade just where the spine and the skull met.

“I didn’t think you would die this way-.“ Ash said. “Having killed so many humans in this realm that you so desperately wanted to protect from us… knowing that you were useless to the end… being surrounded by people who blamed you for shit that you didn’t do, hell, they probably hate you, but so be it. This is the way you die.” He pushed the tip slightly into her skin, making her bleed. “Any last words?”

“You’re the one who is wrong this time, Ash,” Lailah replied, inching her hand to the base of her spear head. “I don’t know about the others, and honestly, I don’t care, but I know this… Undertaker loves me.” She grabbed the spear at the base of its head and whipped around, cutting Ash’s sword arm off at the elbow completely.”

Ash grabbed at his severed arm and screamed, stumbling back as he stared at the stub of an arm. Lailah sighed heavily and heaved herself up from the ground, grabbed the severed arm on her way up; which was still holding on to the sword.

“Heh… heh heh, are you going to read my cinematic record now, Shinigami?” Ash spat at her as she came staggering closer.

She shook her head gently. “No… I don’t care what your record says… I know you are evil to the core and deserve nothing more out of this life.” She brought the arm back with the sword and thrusted it into Ash’s forehead and right through to the back of his head. “You are even unworthy of death, but that’s the only way I can protect this realm and others.”


	23. Chapter 23

Her hand dropped to her side and she watched as Ash’s body fell back with a thump. She flipped her spear so that the head was pointing behind her and breathed a sigh of relief that it was finally over. “God… I could use a cigarette right now.” She sighed again and squinted at the bodies that lay out on the field and the lake. “What a mess… This is going to take forever to clean up.”

“Sorry to bother you, but could you get us out?” William asked.

Lailah turned around and smiled weakly. “Ah, yes. Sorry, forgot about you for a second.”

“You forgot about us?!” Grell and Ronald both yelled, eyes and mouth wide in shock.

“Heehee~ She’s just teasing,” Undertaker snickered and Lailah gave him a wink.

Lailah tried ever so hard to walk with grace and to stand up straight, but her wounds kept bleeding and the blood loss was getting to her. She seemed to drag herself and her spear over towards where Ciel and Sebastian were standing. She started to slice the wires one by one with the head of her spear, making sure that it didn’t lash back at Ciel’s face.

“I’m surprised that you didn’t use the power of the Demon’s songstress to get that over with quickly,” Ciel said.

“The power wouldn’t work on the Angel’s songstress.”

“The what?” Ronald cocked his head. “Angel’s songstress?”

Lailah nodded and her eyes darted to Ash’s body then back to the wires. “Ash and Angela both have that power. The Angel’s songstress is basically the complete opposite of what the Demon’s songstress’ power is. That’s how they led Ciel here.” She wheezed and gulped back the pain that was now showing itself in her shoulder wound. “Anyway… the Angel’s songstress power’s don’t work on the Demon songstress and vice versa.”

She cut the last wire and everyone was able to relax and stretch their limbs. However, Lailah was immediately enveloped in the arms of the Undertaker. He turned her around in his arms in order to make her face him and nuzzled his face right into the crook of her neck.

“Never do that again.”

“Hm?” She hummed, wrapping her arms around his body and playing with his hair that ran down his back.

“Never make a contract like that again.” His head turned and he whispered directly into her ear. “I would out myself as a reaper to help you anytime. You should have let me help you back there.”

“Heh, sorry. I’m just glad that they didn’t try to reorganize my cinematic record. I don’t think I could have gotten out of that.” She tried to clear her throat a bit, but all that did was made her cough and up came some blood with it. “You know I’m bleeding all over your clothes. It’ll be impossible to get out.”

He let out a howling laugh then calmed down to a quiet sob as he looked at the lot of blood that was slowly pooling under them. “It’s okay my dear. I’m an Undertaker. I deal with bloody corpses all the time. This is nothing.”

Lailah continued to cough, deep, throaty coughs. She sniffed and looked at Undertaker’s shoulder where she had coughed. “That’s… a lot of blood….” Her knees eventually gave out. She would have fallen to the ground if it wasn’t for Undertaker holding on to her. “I-I think… I think I’m dying. Heh….”

“Come. Let’s get her to the reaper hospital. She’ll be better cared for there than in a hospital in the human realm,” William adjusted his glasses and opened up a portal to the reaper realm. “Ronald, can you carry her?”

“Yeah-.”

“No! No!” Lailah exclaimed, having a coughing fit after.

“She doesn’t like being carried by anyone but me, heehee,” Undertaker advised them, then in one swoop, he picked up Lailah bridal style and started walking towards the portal.

“No, no, no. No humans are allowed in the reaper realm-.”

“Oh come on, Will darling!” Grell sneered and pushed him aside, away from the portal. “Let her be with the one she loves while she’s going through this!” She quickly leaned over towards him and hissed under her breath. “We don’t even know if she’s going to make it through this. She might die! Wouldn’t you want your loved one near when you’re on the verge of death?”

William’s grew wide and then softened. “Alright. Alright. The Undertaker can come.”

“We’re coming too,” Ciel announced.

“Besides, she’s out maid,” Sebastian smirked.

“Oh no. You’re a demon-,”

Lailah hacked, gagged, and started to spit up blood. Her eyes rolled back into her head and her head fell back on to Undertaker’s arm.

“There’s no time to argue this!” Undertaker growled and leapt through the portal.

Will sighed and urged Sebastian and Ciel on. “Come. I won’t know how to explain this to the higher ups though.”

 

* * *

A dull pain woke Lailah. She moaned, tried to turn over on to her side but that dull pain quickly turned into a burning one and she turned on to her back again which slowly dulled the pain.

“Dearie?”

“Mmm,” She frowned with furrowed brows and whined a bit more. “It hurts.”

A hand gently patted her head and began to stroke her hair. “I know it does. I’ll ask the nurse to get you more medicine for the pain.”

“N-n-no… Where’s… where’s Undertaker?”

There was a high pitched chuckle and the stroking of her hair stopped. The hand that had been stroking ran down her cheek and down her arm, grasping her hand tight. “I’m right here, my little birdie.”

She whined, but cracked her eyes open and there he was in the flesh with that weird, creepy grin on his face. Her eyes closed again, her hand tightened around his and she gave a soft smile with a sigh. “I’m not an angel anymore… little birdie doesn’t seem like an accurate description.”

“Heehee~, you’ll always be my little birdie though.”

“Oh good, she’s awake.”

Lailah cracked her eyes open once more and snorted. William, Sebastian and Ciel had come into the room and honestly, she couldn’t be more disappointed. Undertaker also seemed disappointed as he had stopped giggling and frowned at the few that had walked in.

“Do you need to do this right now?” He asked. “She just woke up. She still needs rest.”

“The sooner I do this, the sooner she can go back to sleep.” William adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat, bringing up a clipboard to read from. “Now then, I have explained everything to the higher ups and they have discussed among themselves what to do with you. First off, you are reinstated as a reaper. Once you are well rested and feeling better, you are to report to Anderson and get new glasses. Now, because you weren’t the one haphazardly killing humans, and screwing up the to-die list, your probation was lessened greatly, but you did defect for some time, so you’ll need to go through probation.”

Lailah sighed, but nodded. “I understand.”

“Good.” William flipped the page and began again. “You will be on call for soul collection.”

“On call….” She moaned and shut her eyes. “That’s just great.”

“I know it’s a pain, but it’s what the higher ups have requested. You’ll also be visited by a manager once a week for evaluation. You will also continue your duty to Ciel.”

“The one thing that I didn’t actually want as part of my probation,” She said, opening her eyes again and staring at the demon and the young master. “You’ll need to get me a better fitting maid uniform.”

“Of course.” Sebastian grinned and bowed his head.

“Now, is there anything else or can I go back to bed?”

William flipped through his clipboard and shook his head. “No. Not that I can tell. If the higher ups say anything more, I’ll let you know.”

“Great.” Lailah closed her eyes, and snuggled up to Undertaker’s arm. “Now, let me sleep.”

“We’ll be waiting at the manor for you,” Ciel said, turning away and going off out of the room with Sebastian following close behind him.

“Undertaker-.”

“Please…,” Lailah cracked an eye open and frowned. “Let him stay. I’ll bring him back myself….”

“My, my, what will the higher ups say?” William turned. “Keep him where you can see him please. I don’t need a human roaming the halls and streets of the reaper realm.” And he promptly left, closing the door tight behind him.

“Heehee, I haven’t been in the reaper realm in quite a while… almost half a century,” Undertaker said, carefully moving Lailah over and getting into the small hospital bed with her. “I didn’t think I would miss it this much.”

“Don’t tell me that you want to be reinstated and give up as an Undertaker,” Lailah chuckled.

“Absolutely not. I couldn’t.” He frowned slightly, but quickly picked up that creepy smile again and kissed her cheek. “Go to sleep, my little birdie. If you feel much better when you wake up again-,” His hand ran down the front of her hospital gown, making her shiver in delight. “I’ll make sure to give you a special treat.”

 

* * *

 

A few weeks went by and Lailah was feeling much better. She had gone to Anderson, gotten her new glasses and went back to the human realm to continue her duty with watching Sebastian’s actions. Undertaker was sad to see her go back to the manor with Ciel and that demon, but she came by his shop time and time again, with or without Ciel. Lately, it was without and she would be coming back from a collection.

And every time she did, she fell in love with him all over again.

And she was happy.

And she felt wanted.

And every time she opened the door to his shop, she couldn’t help but stare at that amaryllis. The one that used to be so sick that even the leaves were falling off. That amaryllis was now healthy and shining with bright colored flowers.

“Just like you,” Undertaker would say. “Just like you my sweet, little birdie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! That's for this fic! I hope you enjoyed it! I'm going to be taking a quick break, trying to write a few other fanfics as well as getting the sequel to this one all together. I try to write a few chapters before actually posting the first chapter.


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